
^ 
^ 






^f;^ 



(2^ 

lUU 

III 
III 

I'll 

)'ll 



Practical Plans 



FOR 



Primary 
Teachers 



BY 



Dethenia McLemore Oldham 



PRICE 30 CTS. 



^ 



CLAUDE J. BELL, Publisher 

NASHVia-LE, TENN. 



^ 



mMmm^mwmmmMmwmwMMwmmmmmmwm 



A BOOK FOR PRIMARY TEACHERS 

The Little School iVIistress 



One of the most interesting and helpful books for teachers 
ever written — has been adopted for reading circle purposes in 
seven states. Thousands of teachers have been inspired by 
reading it. Read a few testimonials below selected from many 
of similar character. 

Hon. W, M. Holloway, State Superintendent of 

Florida : — 

" It is beautifully written and contains much 
sound pedagogy." 

//on. S. A. Mynders, State Superintendent of Ten- 

nesseee : — 

•* True pedagogical principles woven into a 
charming love story is something new in educa- 
tional literature." 

E. C. Branson, President State N^ormal School, Athens^ 

Georgia : — 

" I think every country school teacher in the 
South would do well to read this book." 

Dr. //. Lee //argrove. Ph. D., Editor of one of Yale 

Series of English Classics: — 

" I read it from start to finish — every word of it — 
and can commend it heartily and unqualifiedly to 
all teachers and patrons. I wish all teachers — 
country teachers especially — could read it and 
catch its fine enthusiasm." 

Cloth -253 Pages. $1.00 Postpaid. 

CiaDDE J. BELL, Publisher, 

Nashviile, Tenn. 



Busy Work Cards 

By Mrs. Claude J. Bell. Will keep your small pupils in- 
terested, quiet, and profitably employed. Picture Cards wite 
words in neat box, only 25 cents. Hundreds of testimonials of 
their worth. 






Practical Plans - 



I 

FOR j 

i 



PRIMARY TEACHERS 



I N 






Public or Private Schools 



BY 



Bethenia McLemore Oldhsm 



''w^ 

m 



.W*^ 



(Copyright Applied for.) 



CLAUDE J. BELL, Publisher 

Xasliville, Tenn. 

1910 



V 



<> 



\^ 



©^ 



DEDICATED 

TO 

Father and Mother. 

My guides and helpers through the 
years of teaching. 



(gGlA:e68380 



j^5^ 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER. 

The Room I 

The Teacher II 

The Children HI 

Morning Exercises IV 

Reading V 

Spelling VI 

Numbers VII 

Language . . VIII 

Geography IX 

History X 

Special Programs XI 

Busy Work and Pictures XII 



PREFACE 



This booklet is written for two purposes. One is to 
help the young teacher who has had no experience and 
does not know how to begin or what to do. 

The other is that it may serve as a store house of useful 
information for the busy teacher, who has not time to 
hunt up helps for daily use. 

The chapters on how to teach reading, spelling, num- 
bers, etc., are for the first class. 

The morning exercises are designed to be helpful to 
all, and may suggest some new things even to those who 
have had experience in dealing with children. 

In the language work an outline for the entire session 
is given. Information for the teacher is collected from 
various sources, so that by turning to any given month 
there will be found ready for use : 

1 . Principal facts in the lives of noted people born during 
that month. 

2. Nature Study accompanied by definite information 
about flowers, insects, etc. 

3. Carefully graded exercises for the use of English. 

In the special day exercise complete programs are not 
given, but songs, suggestions, and recitations with which 
to supplement other material. 

There are so many phases of primary work that not all 
can be treated in so small a book, but these are given in 
the hope that they may prove a benefit to some one. 

The last pages give devices for seat-work, for when we 
have learned to keep children busy we have the key to 
successful work in the primary department. 

Give children something to do and they will not have 
time to be bad. One short chapter tells where to get 
pictures and how to use them. 

These suggestions and rules for teaching are the result 
of ten years practical work in the school room. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE ROOM. 



If possible, have a separate room, and make it attrac- 
tive. Whether you are in the city or country schools, 
seek to have the place where the children gather each day 
bright, cheerful, and pretty. Reward the little ones by 
putting their best work on the wall, language-work, 
maps and drawings. Collect pictures to place there and 
change them occasionally. Don't have one in the same 
place throughout the session. Teach the children to 
keep their desks in order. Just before recess call them 
Uttle house-keepers and ask them to clean up their houses ; 
or pretend that each desk is a room and as they put them 
in order let them recite or sing some simple words, as: 

We are little house-keepers, 
Cleaning, cleaning. 
We are little house-keepers 
Cleaning up our rooms. 

In Emile Poulsson's "Finger Plays" pubHshed by Loth- 
rop Publishing Co., Boston, is a song which is very suitable 
for this: "Where oh! where are the Uttle men?" The 
merry little men being the ten fingers. 

After the children have cleaned up their houses, call 
attention to the streets (aisles) and, as "many hands make 
light work" the room will soon be in order. Make work 
like play as much as possible. If two boys are told to 
pull up weeds in the yard, they perhaps will go about 
the task in a lazy, listless way and get little done; but 



if you say, "Boys, see who can pull up a hundred weeds 
first," they will go to work with such energy that the 
task will be completed in a short time. Another plan to 
have children straighten their desks is to have them do it 
in concert as the teacher says the words. This has been 
tried with larger pupils and as the teacher said, "Inkwells 
closed, books in desks, paper off the floor," everything 
was done "decently and in order." Still another method 
is to say, "Two minutes to clean up your houses." No 
matter how orderly and careful children are, some stray 
bits of paper will get on the floor and some books and 
pencils be misplaced. 

Teach pupils not to bring mud into the house. Tell 
how it dries and fills the room with fine particles of dust 
which float about and are breathed into the lungs. En- 
courage them to take care of their books and pencils, and 
to keep them in place. Set a good example by having 
your own desk or table straight. Initials should be cut 
on each child's pencil, which should be tied to his book 
or kept in his pencil-box. Some teachers prefer to take 
up the pencils each evening and distribute them again 
next morning. Others have a certain color for the pen- 
cils used in the first grade, another for those used in the 
second, etc., so that when one is misplaced it is easy to 
locate it. Have a trash-box for waste-paper, a knife in 
some special place where the children have access to it. 
Require them to put it in place always, or you may have 
it to hang by a strong cord. Keep scissors where the 
children can use them, so that there will be no excuse for 
ragged papers. 

See that talc and erasers are in place before school and 
thus avoid confusion. A bottle of mucilage is convenient 
in a school-room and a hammer and tacks are almost 

6 



indispensable. A broom should be near at hand, also a 
pointer and duster. All of these things should be taken 
care of andfas they are for the convenience of all, the 
pupils themselves should be trained to keep them in place. 
If practicable have a cabinet, a home-made one will 
answer, in which to collect shells, pretty rocks, different 
kinds of acorns, cocoons, pine-cones and numerous other 
things in which children take delight when they are 
encouraged to hunt for them. Keep a substantial vase 
on your desk if only an oyster can covered with bright 
paper, and try to keep it filled with flowers. 

Every boy should have a special hook on which to hang 
his hat and overcoat, and every little girl likewise should 
know exactly where to look for her hat and wrap. Um- 
brellas and overshoes should not be mixed promiscu- 
ously, nor should lunch-baskets. In the country these 
rules should be observed just as much as in towns and 
cities. It not only saves the teacher trouble and annoyance 
but trains the children to be methodical in their habits, 
and to respect the rights of others. 

During the summer, prepare to make your primary 
room attractive by collecting material. Go to the school 
house the day before the opening and set things in order. 
If you are a young teacher with no experience and in a 
strange building, decide where you will have your table 
or desk, where you want the chart, where you would like 
to have the pupils when they are reciting, and how they 
will march out. Some rooms are so arranged that you 
have no choice in these matters, but at least look over 
your ground and know beforeh?.nd what you want to do. 
Pin a few pictures on the wall, put up any maps you may 
have, and arrange your busy -work where you can get it 
when needed. If you want to put a motto around the 



clock you can use the words "I'm watching you," "keep 
busy," or "Take care of the minutes." Hang a calendar 
in a convenient place, see that the windows are bright, 
and everything neat and clean. Have a pencil and tablet 
ready and prepare a schedule of what you wish to do on 
the first day. 

People are unconsciously influenced by environment. 
Some children have nothing pleasant to look at in their 
homes, so give them something here. Often in the country 
a teacher has to combine secondary with primary work. 
These plans for method, and order, of having "a place for 
everything and everything in its place" are applicable 
there also. The yard as well as the house should be kept 
clean. There are schools in the country where paper, 
apple-cores, and chicken-bones are strewn in every direc- 
tion, so that the whole place has an air of neglect and 
untidiness. The waste paper may be utilized for making 
fires and the remains of dinner deposited in a receptacle 
and burned, or thrown where birds can get them. Grow- 
ing plants in a school-room always add to its beauty. 

Desks should be so arranged that pupils will not face 
the windows. Light falling over their left shoulders is 
preferable, then their hands do not cast shadows when 
they write. This is an important item about the room 
and should be remembered. Another thing to be con- 
sidered is the ventilation. So many persons constantly 
breathing out poisonous gas and using up the oxygen 
necessarily make the air unwholesome. During every 
recess, doors and windows should be opened wide for a 
few minutes, so that fresh air may circulate and fill the 
room. If windows are kept open for the purpose of 
ventilation, great care should be taken to avoid draughts. 
The bodies as well as the minds and hearts of children 



should be kept healthy. Watch the fire, or appoint a 
responsible pupil to do so. Do not keep the room too 
hot or too cold. 

Select only good pictures for your walls. Do not think 
you have to use every cheap print brought by the children. 
(See last chapter.) Teach children not to deface property, 
not to waste chalk, cut their desks or mark on the walls. 
Let them feel that the school-room belongs to them all 
and gain their cooperation to keep it in good condition. 

A set of book-shelves or a book-case is a helpful addi- 
tion. If you start to collect books for a children's library, 
it is astonishing how they accumulate. Publishers send 
them to you if you are a wide-awake, progressive teacher. 
Friends help you, and the children themselves make 
contributions, sometimes by lending and sometimes by 
giving their own books. Then you can make others. Old 
catalogues of convenient size and sbape may be turned 
into scrap-books and filled with stories and pictures. 
Make your room so bright, attractive and pretty that the 
children will feel that it is good to be there. 




CHAPTER II. 

THE TEACHER. 

Why are you teaching? Is it because you love your 
work, love the children, and are trying to do good in the 
world? Is it because you are obliged to do it in order to 
make a living? Is it because you love to have money to 
spend? Is it because some of your friends or relatives 
are on the school board and gave you the place? 

Perhaps it is for several of these reasons combined. 
Now for another question: What kind of teacher are you? 
You m.ay fill a teacher's position because circumstances 
compel you to do so, but the way in which you fill it 
depends on yourself only. Are you in earnest about 
your work? Do you realize the sacred responsibility of 
training little children? Do you read professional books 
and school journals, try to find out what others are doing, 
keep your eyes open, seek to train the hearts as well as 
the minds of the children under you? In short are you 
a teacher, with your whole soul in your work, or merely 
a person filling a place that by rights some one else should 
have ? 

If you are not a real teacher, why not? It may be you 
have never thought much about it at all, and that within 
you, l5^ing dormant, are powers for good of which you are 
yet unconscious. If this is the case oh! wake up and 
think what you are doing. "What if God should place 
in your hands a diamond and tell you to inscribe on it a 
sentence which should be read at the last day and shown 

10 



there as an index of your own thoughts and feeHngs, what 
care, what caution would you exercise in the selection! 
Now this is just what God has done. He has placed 
before you the immortal minds of children, more imper- 
ishable than the diamond, on which you are to inscribe 
by your instruction, by your spirit and by your example 
something which will remain and be exhibited for or 
against you at the judgment." Isn't this a serious, a 
conscience-searching thought? How earnest we should 
be, how careful, how zealous! 

It is strange that people have not found out long ago 
that a poor teacher may dwarf a child's mental ability, 
may deaden his sensibility. A man would not take a 
costly watch to any but a skilled goldsmith to be repaired; 
if his eyes troubled him, he would trust only a specialist 
to treat them; and yet think how much more important 
than a watch, or the eyes even, is the mind of a child. 
The watch may tarnish and the works within give out, 
the eye will die with the body, but a child's mind, his 
soul, lives on forever. 

Sometimes when a poor teacher loses a position people 

say, "Oh! aren't you sorry for Mr. or Miss 

? I don't think it is fair to give that place to 

some one else." Think of this question: was it fair to 
those children to give them any but the very best teacher? 
Their little minds were being dwarfed, their powers and 
capabilities repressed, their mental and moral growth 
retarded. Was that fair? Children have a right to the 
best instruction and not the poorest. 

There is a constantly increasing demand for skilled 
teachers and especially is this the case in the primary 
department. The time is fast coming when a poor teacher 
will not be employed any more than a poor dentist or a 

11 



poor physician. People can't afford it. They will find 
out that even if it costs more money, it pays to have their 
children taught well. 

The primary teacher more than all others holds a 
responsible position, because it is while the children are 
young that the strongest impressions are made on their 
minds. It is then that the foundation is laid for all 
future work, and if the building is to be strong, well 
proportioned and symmetrical throughout, how important 
it is that the foundation should be good. It requires 
more time, thought, and study to be a first-class primary 
teacher than to be any other kind. 

You have probably heard words to this eft'ect, "Oh! 
she has only the lower classes in school, anybody can 
teach them." This is not true. It takes skill, tact, 
preparation, and patience to teach the lower branches 
and to do it successfully. It takes experience too. You 
may have heard this also, "I'd rather have a young 
teacher's enthusiasm than an old teacher's experience." 
That depends upon what kind of young teacher or what 
kind of old teacher you have. Enthusiasm alone is not 
all that is necessary, neither is experience; but both are 
needed. Of course the longer you teach, the better you 
can teach, if you don't allow yourself to get into a rut, as 
the lady did who used the same Geography for fourteen 
years. Text-books change, methods change, and the 
teacher in order to keep up with the onward march of 
progress must change. Experience we must have and 
the longer we teach, the more we know that there is 
more to know. Teaching is no child's play, it is genuine 
work, and only those who have taught can reaHze how 
much it means lulucation, what is it? It isn't to see 
how many facts can be stored away within the child's 

12 



brain, but how much the mind and heart grow and are 
developed, that is the true aim of teaching. The word 
"educate" comes from "educo," to "lead out." 

All real teachers as the years go by, look back and see 
where they might have done better, and constantly strive 
to go forward. Whether we begin well or ill our whole 
w^ork is determined by our ideals. "In what spirit am I 
working?" we should ask ourselves. It should be the 
spirit of love and of humility. We should try to serve 
the children and study the best means of doing this. Hun- 
dreds of questions will be asked by the eager, curious 
little ones, questions not in the books but in their own 
bright minds, and we must be ready with answers as 
often as possible. Never deceive a child when he asks 
a question. If you can't answer him, it is better to say 
honestly and candidly, "I don't know, but I will try to 
find out," than to pretend to knowledge which you do not 
possess. 

A teacher should keep up with the times and be informed 
about the latest text-books. Even if you can't use them 
in your school, you gain ideas from seeing and reading 
them. Buy, borrow, or exchange books with some friend 
who is a teacher. If you are in the country try to keep 
in touch with some hve city teacher who will be glad to 
give you ideas. Take a day off occasionally and visit 
other schools. Don't be satisfied with your own work 
but see what others are doing. On the other hand don't 
adopt every new^ book and method of which you hear. 
What may suit one school or class may not be adapted 
to another. Attend county Institutes and if they are 
uninteresting make them interesting. Be so enthusiastic 
yourself that you will inspire others. Give the results 
of your reading and your methods when you think it 

13 



will do good; don't keep them all to yourself. Help and 
get help from these meetings, that is what they are for. 
Whether you teach in a public or private school don't 
neglect to meet with other teachers. Learn what you 
can from them, and give out what you know so that others 
may use your ideas. The true teacher is ready, willing 
and anxious to teach not only pupils but any one who 
needs to be taught. 

"The center, around which everything revolves, is the 
teacher. If she is happy, bright, and full of enthusiasm, 
with quick perception and a kind heart, her character 
will be reflected in the little ones about her. If she is 
cross, or does things in a mechanical, half-hearted way, 
this too will have its effect." What the teacher is, the 
school will be. If we wish to govern others we must first 
learn to govern ourselves. This is at once the most 
important and the most difficult rule to keep. If you 
allow yourself to grow irritable, the feeling will be com- 
municated to the pupils, but if you preserve an even 
temper and a well-balanced head and heart, everything 
will move on smoothly and without friction. "Greater 
is he that ruleth his own spirit than he that taketh a 
city." Certain it is that only when we control oneselves 
are we fitted to control others. 

Are you ever cross in the school-room? Do you scold 
the children and find fault with them and think they are 
the worst children you ever saw? Do you ever think to 
yourself, "I can't stand this any longer?" Then at night 
do you feel ashamed of yourself, and discouraged at the 
same time? There are two things the matter. One is 
that you do not plan your work well. You didn't give 
these children anything to do and very naturally they 
fell into mischief. Then you showed that you felt cross, 

14 



and that made the children feel cross. Yes, that is one 
trouble, but the cause back of all that, is that your nerves 
are giving out and that you are slowly and surely com- 
mitting suicide. Don't you know that teaching is a great 
strain on even the strongest constitution? Look about 
you at the teachers of your acquaintance, how many 
look healthy? Can't you think of more than one teacher 
who has broken down from overwork? They tell the 
children to obey the laws of health and how many know 
how to take care of themselves? You need more sleep. 
You need to go to bed earlier and to have some rest. 
You need recreation and a little break in the monotony 
of work. The human frame can stand a great deal but 
there must be a reckoning some time. Don't use up all 
of your nerve force at once. Work as much as you please, 
keep busy, study, read, but remember that "All w^ork 
and no play makes Jack a dull boy." Your teaching 
will be better if every now and then you allow yourself 
to relax. 

It helps the primary teacher to have mother-meetings. 
Most mothers send a child to school and never even visit 
the school to see what the teacher is giving him. One 
of two things must be true, either the parents must have 
unbounded confidence in the teacher, or must care noth- 
ing, think nothing of the child's character being moulded 
for time and eternity. Sometimes they do not even know 
the teacher, do not see him or her, until the close of the 
session. This is often the case in the country and too 
frequently in town, and yet that teacher has put into 
that child's life, thoughts and ideas that w411 last always. 
Parents need to know the teachers, teachers need to 
know the parents, and as both are factors in influencing 
the child's destiny they ought to work together. Both 

15 



need to study the child, to find out what is best for his 
particular nature; what his natural tendencies are, which 
need to be strengthened and which discouraged. Better 
work would be done and better results obtained if parents 
would realize this. There are many teachers who have 
waked up to the importance of their work and are ready 
and eager to do the best they can; but they need help, 
they need support, they need the cooperation of the 
fathers and mothers who should realize the importance 
of the teacher's work, should be interested in it, and 
should visit the places where their children are daily 
taught. 

Call the mothers of your pupils together. Organize a 
club, and discuss questions pertaining to the welfare of 
the school. Read everything in the Home Department 
of The Progressive Teacher. Find out what other mother 
clubs are doing and seek to gain practical results from 
cooperation. 

Teachers, our work is high and noble, the greatest of 
all professions next to the preaching of the gospel. We 
hold the future of this nation in our hands to a great 
extent, for who are these children but the future men and 
women of our country? They will make its history 
hereafter. We, as teachers, are moulding them, and 
according to the way in which we bend and train their 
minds and inclinations so will they be. We do not have 
more influence than some parents, for while there are 
those who through thoughtlessness or ignorance neglect 
their children, there are others who give the most earnest 
consideration to training their little ones aright. They 
pray over it, they strive to their utmost to keep them in 
the right path, to throw in their way good books, to have 
them associate with kind, well-behaved children, to give 

16 



them employment and amusement in the home, in order 
to keep them happy and healthy in mind and body. Yet 
many of these do not reaUze that our work as teachers is 
the same as theirs. Some of them think that if their 
children are taught to read, to write, to spell, and to 
cipher that the teacher has done her part. Ah! but she 
hasn't. If this were all, if the responsibility stopped here 
the work would be easy enough. There are many who 
could do this who are not teachers in the true sense of 
the word. 

What must a teacher have? First above all things she 
must have patience, unbounded patience: patience that 
will enable her to be gentle when children are noisy and 
restless and have bad lessons. Then she must have love ; 
love for all of the little ones who are placed in her car&. 
Mothers love their own children but how many of them 
have patience when the child of the neighbor runs through 
the house with muddy feet or how many are just, and 
able to see both sides in a quarrel between the little neigh- 
bor child and their own. Yet a teacher must have love 
enough and a heart big enough to gather all of the Httle 
ones in, and must be impartial enough to decide against 
one she loves perhaps the most, if another is in the right. 
She must be just, she must be wise, must have tact and 
prudence, must learn the modern and improved methods 
of teaching. She must have forethought, and plan out 
each week how best to make the lessons interesting for 
the week following. She must have good common sense 
and her mind must be stored with various kinds of knowl- 
edge. Even if she doesn't teach them, she must know 
something of History, of Geography, of Geology and 
Botany. She must acquire the art of story telHng, must 
study the natural world about us. the birds, the trees, 

17 



the flowers, the sunshine and the rain. She must take a 
wide range and visit the realms of poetry, of music, of 
art. She must know something about these wonderful 
bodies of ours and how to keep them healthy. She must 
be well-informed on current topics and most important 
of all, must be filled with kindness of heart. Woman is 
spoken of rather than man because of late years the work 
of the primary department is being given into her hands. 
The ideal drawn is high and perhaps none of us can 
attain it, but we can try, and there are many who do try. 

"Heaven is not reached at a single bound, 

But we build the ladder by which we rise, 
• From the lowly earth to the vaulted skies, 
And we mount to the summit round by round." 

So, little by little, must we rise in our chosen profession. 
Sometimes we are discouraged. There is much to do, 
there are many ideas that we can not put into practice. 
It is hard to be always self -controlled, always patient, 
always kind, but we must not mourn over failures. Let 
us rather say, "I will forget those things which are behind 
and press forward." 



18 



CHAPTER III. 

THE CHILDREN. 

Here are the children; school has begun. What will 
you do with them? How will you control them, by means 
of love or fear? Will you lead or drive them? How 
will you teach them, wisely and well? When they leave 
you next spring or next summer will they be better or 
worse for your influence? They must be one or the other. 
They are as marble in the sculptor's hands. Beautiful 
traits of character are to be rounded out and developed, 
the angles of bad habit and wrong tendencies are to be 
cut off or rubbed down. 

Are all children aHke? In some respects yes, but in 
others how vastly different. Here is one child who tells 
a falsehood as naturally as he speaks, he doesn't think 
about it at all. Another has been told the sin of it but 
the habit is so firmly fixed that he finds it hard to stop. 
Another is truthful but high-tempered. One child is 
timid, self-conscious, painfully bashful, while one of the 
same age is aggressively pert, likes to be noticed and has 
evidently been taught at home that she is the most im- 
portant of all persons. 

What is the best thing to do for such children? Study 
them, find out their thoughts, their aspirations, their 
minds , their good and bad traits, their likes and dislikes. 
The florist in order to bring blossoms to perfection studies 
flowers, how much more important it is that we study the 
blossoms placed in our care! He knows that all plants 

19 



must not be treated in the same way, that some need a 
sandy soil while others do not, that some require more 
water than others and some need the sunHght more. So 
it is with children ; some require a great amount of kindness 
and patience on the part of the teacher and can be reached 
in no other way. With others the teacher is compelled 
to use firmness. 

Each child must be studied with a view to helping that 
particular one. Study them in the class, on the play- 
ground, in their homes. Learn what their early training 
has been. Are their parents poor or rich, kind or unkind, 
cultured or ignorant, worldly or God-fearing? With 
whom has this boy or that girl associated? All of these 
things help to determine the character of each little one 
in your room. Oh! if you could know the home life of 
some, it would make you patient and forbearing. You 
would pity instead of blame. 

In this country there are educational workers who for 
some time have urged the study of psychological phenom- 
ena in children. This is done in order that we may have 
better schools and better teachers. A national society 
for this study was formed in Chicago in 1893 and Dr. G. 
Stanley Hall was made president. The movement really 
began in Boston in 1879 when six primary teachers under 
the leadership of Mrs. Shaw took several children at a 
time and tried to find out what they knew. 

The results were surpirsing. Many had never seen a 
live chicken, a robin, nor a growing strawberry. When 
asked the size of a cow, one little tot said it was as big as 
her kitten's tail and another thought it was no bigger 
than her thumb nail. 

Since then, laboratories have been established in" the 
large cities, and children have been measured, tested, 

20 



questioned, and the results each time written down and 
preserved for future reference. Special schools exist for 
the benefit of children whose physical or mental growth 
has been retarded. Dozens of books have been written 
about the study of children, and numerous articles have 
appeared from time to time in the magazines. 

It is said that every movement which has blessed the 
world, uplifted humanity or helped to solve problems' 
has passed through a period of criticism and ridicule. 
Pestalozzi was ridiculed when he established a school 
different from all previous ones. Horace Mann was not 
only ridiculed but persecuted because he insisted on 
trained teachers and tried to abolish the old-fashioned 
a-b-c method of teaching reading. So the science of 
child-study has it share of ridicule. There will be mistakes 
made and well meaning people will undertake experiments 
that will do no good because they are neither systematic 
nor scientific. "Hasty tests will be made and hasty con- 
clusions drawn, from imperfect and incomplete data" but 
at the same time much that is good and useful is being 
given to the educational world by those who know what 
they are about. 

Sometimes as many as a thousand children are exam- 
ined at the same time. They are told to give answers in 
writing to such questions as: What frightens you most? 
What study do you Hke best? Do you like fairy stories? 
etc. Some of the answers are very queer. In Sioux 
City a little child on being asked "Where is God?" answered 
"In another world." One said "Upon the hill," another 
"Up in the moon," and still another "In my prayer." 

Once in Boston when the children of the schools were 
measured it was found that the average girl from thirteen 
to fifteen years is taller and heavier than the average boy 

21 



of the same age, but all the rest of her life is lighter and 
smaller. It was found, too, that the child's body does 
not grow with the same degree of rapidity in all parts at 
all times. Certain parts seem to grow and get their force 
and then to rest for a time. Children grow taller in 
spring and times of physical growth are also times of 
mental growth. Dr. Hall says, "Growth in all the organs 
is a more or less intermittent process." Another student 
of child-nature writes, "The first pedagogical principle 
settled beyond controversy by this broad study of children 
is that no development is possible without the proper 
functioning of the nervous system." Again Dr. Hall 
says, "Our nervous system, the most important part of 
us does not acquire its full growth until we are fourteen 
or sixteen years old, and after that there is a long period 
when our growth all centers upon function and not upon 
size." The laws which govern the development of the 
nervous system must determine the principles of teach- 
ing. One of these laws is that first the fundamental is 
developed, after that the accesory. Simple process must 
come first, the fine, delicate and complex ones later. If 
we reverse the order and give to children lessons beyond 
their mental grasp, or "push" them in their studies, they 
may attempt what we tell them and their parents may 
be pleased with the progress which they seem to be mak- 
ing, but it is contrary to a law written in the child's nerve 
centers, and sooner or later will produce harmful effects. 
Let the child develop gradually. Don't crowd the mind. 
Don't expect too much of a pupil, especially during the 
first year. For six weeks or two months after a beginner 
enters school it seems as if he is learning nothing. You 
grow discouraged. Possibly you think to yourself, "Has 
this child any sense? Has he no ideas? Have I been 

22 



working and trying all of this time to teach him and made 
no progress?" If for the first time you are dealing with 
young children you may have such thoughts but when 
you've had experience you will know better. You will 
know that the ideas are there, that the little mind is 
gradually, slowly, waking up and opening, just as a rose- 
bud opens its petals; and that one day all of a sudden, you 
will reaHze that your hardest task, that of getting a child 
started, is over, and that he has learned to think and 
study for himself. 

Then how fast he does learn. You have trained his 
powers gradually, naturally. You have not forced him 
to study but made the lessons so pleasant that he wanted 
to come to school. You have let the number work and 
writing go hand in hand w^ith reading and the sounds of 
letters. He has had busy work, drawing, and talks about 
nature. 

Never crowd a child's mind or force him to study what 
is too hard for him. Better let him go back and travel 
over the same ground a second time than to advance him 
too rapidly. 

Tests made in the schools of Lincoln, Nebraska, in the 
last few^ years, show that popular ideas are sometimes 
the reverse of the truth. For instance, boys are found as 
a rule to be more nervous than girls, and girls can stand 
a greater amount of study. Girls are more conscientious 
and ambitious than boys. The mental equipment is very 
well balanced, boys exceUing in some things, girls in 
others. 

When asked what they would Hke to be when 
they were grown up, the majority of girls wanted to be 
teachers, and the greatest number of boys wanted an 
active life as that of engineer. The boy's motive, nine 

23 



times out of ten, was because he wanted to get rich. 
Here is food for thought. 

When asked to name three wrong and three right things, 
the boys in most cases said it was wrong to kick, steal, 
fight and get drunk, and the girls were most impressed 
with the sin of climbing trees and getting their clothes 
soiled. Both had more to say about the wrong things 
than the right, though a number of girls dwelt on the 
fact that it is right to tell the truth. Twice as many 
girls as boys knew fairy tales and twice as many boys 
as girls knew Bible stories. Boys have a vast amount of 
energy. This is why they seem bad when really they 
are not. This energy must be utilized at once. It must 
have an outlet, a vent. If you don't give them some- 
thing to do they will not be long in finding something. 
The brain of a girl is heavier than that of a boy at first, 
after that the absolute weight is greater in a boy, relative 
weight in a girl. Girls fear more things than boys and 
are more emotional, therefore easier to cry. A boy is 
more cruel than a girl, more of a savage in his nature. 
Sometimes a girl likes to tease but more often it is a boy 
and when he teases those who are weaker or younger 
than himself he becomes a "bully." Boys can be con- 
trolled as easily as girls and most of them can be ruled 
by kindness. If you will appeal to them in the right 
way and arouse the better nature, punishments will not 
be necessary. 

Nearly all children fear things. In a school in Massa- 
chusetts where a number of them were examined, they 
were asked what they feared most. The answers were 
various though the largest percentage were afraid of 
animals, dogs coming first in the list and snakes second. 
In another school one little girl said, "It frightens me 

24 



most to see anybody that does not believe in God." An- 
other said, "The thing that frightens me most is to be 
tempted to do wrong." One said, "Death frightens me 
most," and other answers to the same question were, "To 
dream bad dreams," "To have some one hide and jump 
out and scare me," "Not to stand examination," "Ele- 
phants," "War," the "Bad man," etc. These same 
little girls and boys were asked to tell the kindest thing 
you can do and among the answers were these: "To do 
all you can for anybody you see that needs it," "To keep 
someone from doing wrong," "To do all you can to make 
others happy," "To be a comfort to your parents and 
grandparents," "To do charitable deeds," "To be kind 
to your mother," "To help the poor." They were asked 
to name something very wrong, one wrote, "To cheat," 
another, "To tell a story," and a third, "To make light 
of religion." 

Some people who have studied the question, think that 
with regard to memory boys reach the maximum in the 
second grade and that after that, girls excel. Again it 
is held that while girls learn more quickly than boys, the 
latter retain ideas better and longer. 

If in your school you cannot carry on systematic and 
scientific child-study, find out as much as possible about 
each little child you have to teach, his inner life, thoughts 
and emotions. This will help you more than all else to 
understand and control those who are placed in your 
care. Find the key-note to each character and bring out 
the best powers there hidden. 

Make every effort to teach children to depend on them- 
selves. Show them how^ to study, then encourage them 
to study alone. Have short periods, do not tire the 
minds, but have variety and changes. Make the busy 

25 



work interesting and have it correlate with lessons. 

When little ones are restless, spend a few moments in 
vigorous exercise or marching. Let them change posi- 
tions often. Put other sets of muscles to work. It is 
very hard for a small child to sit still for longer than a 
half hour. Do not try to help matters by sending them 
out for a long recess with no older person to superintend. 
They will be sure to get into mischief. Let boys and 
girls play separately unless under supervision. Pupils of 
higher classes may often help in this way, to the good of 
all concerned. 

Teach correct habits and discourage bad ones, as nail- 
biting and pencil-chewing. Do not punish but try original 
and better methods to control children. A little girl 
pouts and throws herself angrily into her seat. Ask, 
"Does any one know where Efhe Owen is?" "There she 
is," some one will answer. "No, that is not Effie. That 
is a cross, ugly, little girl. Effie is sweet and good." By 
this time all eyes will be turned on Efhe, who will be 
intent on her studies. 

A boy is disobedient, refuses to do something you tell 
him. Say, "How many of you think it is right to mind 
your parents? Hold up your hands. Now, how many 
think it is right to mind your teacher?" Of course the 
boy has become interested. By the time the second 
question is answered by the school he is conquered. Public 
opinion is against him. Think of other ways, and do not 
punish except as a last resort. 

Praise politeness and kindness. Do not stand children 
in corners or keep them in at recess. Never scold one 
before the school or allow yourself to speak in a loud 
angry tone. Assume that they will do well and be good; 
expect it of them. Be firm, mean what you say, but be 
gentle and courteous. Gain and keep the respect and 
love of the little ones. 

26 



CHAPTER IV. 

MORNING EXERCISES. 

The time given to morning exercises for little children 
should be separate and apart from the daily program. It 
should be a time when teacher and pupils mingle their 
thoughts and when they can discuss together those high 
principles that lead to right Hving. After studying the 
nature of every Httle boy and girl, adapt and arrange 
your lesson so that each child will be impressed and 
helped. Perhaps you have reason to suspect that one is 
not truthful. For his benefit, tell the story of the beau- 
tiful city "Whose builder and maker is God." Read 
carefully to yourself the last two chapters of Revelation 
so that you can describe it to the children. Tell them 
that no one that loveth and maketh a lie can enter the 
beautiful gates. Follow this with a story about lying. 
You can find one if you keep your eyes open. In old 
readers and Sunday School papers are many helpful 
stories some of which may be cut out and pasted in a 
scrap-book ready for use. Accustom yourself to telling 
instead of reading them, and your words will have more 
weight, particularly if you learn to tell them well. After 
the story illustrating your point, discuss with the pupils 
the various ways of telling a lie. Do we always have to 
talk? Can we look a falsehood? Do we tell a lie when 
we cheat? Could you tell one by keeping silent? 

Plan your work before hand and give time and study 
to it. Don't preach to your pupils, they do not need 

27 



sermons. Let them do some of the talking, while you 
direct, watch, help, strengthen, encourage. Hold up 
before them good deeds, great lives, God's word. Instill 
into their minds from day to day, high principles, unsel- 
fishness, a strong love for truth, a desire to do right for 
right's sake, a willingness to be helpful, thoughtfulness 
of others. Make the hour so pleasant for them that they 
will love to come. This will cause them to be on time 
and solve the problem of tardiness. Let them leave their 
desks and gather around you unless your school is too 
large, and let it be a helpful happy time. It should 
sound the keynote for the day so that those who are 
present will go about their tasks willingly and cheerfully 
with no words of grumbling or complaint. 

In your plan book write down from day to day what 
you will do the next day; or on Saturday, what you wish 
each morning of the following week. It would be better 
still to write during vacation what you will need each 
day during the session. This isn't as hard as it would 
seem, and saves much trouble and worry later. It might 
be like this: for every Monday, a song; Tuesday, verses; 
Wednesday, a story; Thursday, memory gems; Friday, a 
talk. The last might be about truthfulness, neatness, 
politeness, or force of .habit. Again, you could have a 
song every day for a week, or until the children grow 
tired, and then change to stories. Plan your work but 
do not have an ironclad rtile about following your plan, 
if you find the children are not attentive. Remember 
always that "The time of interest is the time of oppor- 
tunity." Seize your opportunity when it comes and 
make the most of it. The teacher of a first grade language 
class had once prepared a lesson for the children, and 
was just beginning, when a small dog walked into the 

28 



school room. Immediately the lesson was of mmor 
importance and the dog claimed the undivided attention of 
the children. The class was a large one and the teacher 
saw that if something were not done quickly, confusion 
would follow and the lesson would be unwritten; so allow- 
ing one Httle fellow to stand by the dog and pat him, she 
had the others to make sentences about him. These 
she wrote on the board for them to copy,' and thus the 
children had a live subject for observation and language 
work. They were interested just then in that dog more 
than anything else, and it was no trouble to make sentences 
about him. If in the morning exercises, the children are 
more interested in something else than what you have 
prepared, save it for another time and u-e what they like 
in such a way that it will help them. A Sunday School 
teacher had a pupil who gave her much trouble. He was 
inattentive and disorderly, yet she knew he had a soul to 
be saved and she longed to help him. He was a boot 
black, and one day brought his outfit with him to the 
class, brush, blacking and all. Seeing he was thinking 
of that more than of anything else, she took the brush in 
her hand and holding it up said, "Boys, where did this 
come from?" "From the store," said one. "Yes, but 
where did the store keeper get it? What is it made of? 
Where did it come from at first?" Then partly from 
questions and partly from her words they learned that it 
was part of a tree that grew in a great forest many miles 
away. From this she led them on in their thoughts to 
the one that made the forests and the mountains and all 
things; the Father who watches over and cares for boys 
and girls that love-His name. She had gained the boy's 
attention, had gotten him interested, had found her oppor- 
tunity and used it. 

29 



Fill the child's mind with good things and there will 
be no room for evil. Store Bible truths and memory 
gems in it and they will crowd out ugly thoughts. Those 
parts of the Bible most loved and best remembered are 
the ones which people have learned in childhood. The 
minds of the very young are more receptive than those of 
older boys and girls, so while they are little, make them 
familiar with the Bible stories of Joseph, Ruth, Esther^ 
and David. 

Vary the exercises. Don't have the same thing over 
and over. In many schools the pupils are required to 
repeat the Lord's prayer every morning in the session, 
until with some it is mere mockery. They say the words 
mechanically and with no thought of reverence. In other 
schools the Principal always reads a chapter and often 
adds a moral lecture. A short passage from the word 
of God, read distinctly and without comment, usually 
carries with it more weight than if the teacher tries to 
explain its meaning. 

Perhaps someone who reads this is assistant teacher in 
some country school. If so, ask the privilege of having 
your little ones to yourself during the opening exercises. 
They should not be forced to sit with the main body of 
the school and listen to something which they cannot 
understand. 

Pupils, even little third grade children, may read alone 
from the Bible, if simple short passages are selected for 
them, and if they are allowed to practice reading them. 
Some suitable ones are: Luke XII; 22,31. Luke XI: 
1,4. Mathew VII: 1, 5. MathewV:2,9. Luke II: 8,14. 
John XIV: 1,6. The twenty-third -and twenty-fourth 
Psalms may also be used this way. When the Lord's 
Prayer or any prayer is to be repeated in concert the 

30 



children should be taught to close their eyes and to be 
reverent. These words may be used by them: 
"Before my words of prayer are said 
I close my eyes and bow my head, 
That I may think to whom I pray 
That I may mean the words I say." 
Little people hke to play that they are building, or 
climbing, or running a race. After describing how a 
house is built, or how Solo non built the temple at Jerusa- 
lem, say "Children, each one of us is building a house 
and' every day adding a little to it. Are we building our 
houses well? How do we build? By our words, our 
acts, our thoughts. What are you putting into yours ; 
good things or bad things?" Anything which appeals to 
the eye as well as the ear is helpful. If you use the black- 
board draw a house, or if this is too difficult, simply some 
stones laid one upon another. On the foundation stone 
print the name Jesus and each day add a stone, printing 
on it the subject for that day's talk or discussion. On 
one print "truth," on another "honesty," etc. The song 
"Little builders" is suitable for day schools as well as 
Sunday Schools. This with other charming children's 
songs may be found in "Special Songs and Services," by 
Mrs. M. G. Kennedy, pubHshed by W. A. Wilde, 25 Brom- 
field street, Boston; price 45 cents. These words may be 
recited in concert by the children : 

We are little builders 

Building every day; 

Building with the things we do 

And with the words we say. 
The idea of building may be used not only with refer" 
ence to character but the body and mind. A three fold 

31 



building is going on at all times, mental, moral, and 
physical. Talk in this way, "Children do you know that 
your bodies are houses? Yes, each one here is building 
a house, a temple in which the soul may live, in which 
God's spirit may come to dwell. We must keep these 
houses in good order. The bones are the beams and 
rafters, or frame work, and the eyes are the windows 
from which the soul looks. Some houses, away down in 
Africa, are painted black, some in the far west are red, and 
over in China they are yellow. In some of the islands 
of the sea the little children's souls live in brown houses 
but you have white ones. You must keep the outside of 
your house clean, and not only that, but keep the inside 
in nice order. How can you do this? Can someone tell 
me? Yes, that is right, by eating; but does that always 
put your house in order? No, sometimes it does harm. 
You must be careful not only about what you eat but 
when you eat. If you eat all through the day, any time 
you feel Hke it, is that good for you?" Some child may 
say, "Well, I eat whenever I feel like it and it doesn't 
make me sick." "No," you can answer, "perhaps not, 
but if you keep on doing that way till you are grown 
up, you may ruin your stomach; that will cause you much 
pain and suffering and maybe kill you at last." Teachers 
can't put too much emphasis on the rules of health. It 
is pitiful to see how children are allowed and even encour- 
aged to break them, by well mxcaning but thoughtless 
parents. A physician said recently that physiology should 
be taught to children with ungloved hands. Emphasize 
the importance of eating wholesome food at regular 
times, of chewing it thoroughly, of taking fresh air and 
exercise. Impress on your pupils the danger of intem- 
perance or excess in anything they do; the harmful effect 

32 



of overloading the stomach, of getting over-heated and 
then cooling off suddenly. Teach the effect of tobacco 
and alcohol. Two books on the subject, written in 
simple language so that a child may understand them, 
will furnish material for morning talks through many 
weeks; they are Child's Health Primer (American Book 
Company), and Child's Book of Nature, Part II. (Harper 
Brothers.) 

Again in your talks you may ask, "How can you build 
your minds children? Yes, by studying your lessons, by 
reading things that will help you. Which is most import- 
ant to build, in the right way, the body, the mind, or the 
heart?" Show why the last is the most so, though all 
are important and one helps the other. 

In an interesting talk at a Sunday School convention 
Mrs. Bryner used a black board illustration of this kind 
and her idea may be used with other letters and other 
subjects by primary teachers in the secular schools. 




AVIOR 

CRIPTURES 

UNDAY SCHOOL 

HINE TO 

HOW THE WAY TO KEEP 

OMEBODY 

AFE. 



She told the children of the different kinds of light in 
the world; the light set in the street at night to keep 
horses from running into something that was being built, 
or a hole where the street was torn up; of the headUght 
on the engine ; of the red light used as a danger signal ; of 
the miner's Hght worn on the front of his cap; of the great 
hght houses at sea and on all the coasts, and the Ughts 
on ships; oil lamps, electric Ughts, etc. Every one of 

33 



these was shining to "Show the way to keep somebody 
safe." She told them of the Savior, the light of the 
world; that the Savior, the Scriptures and the Sunday 
School were shining to "Show the way to keep somebody 
safe." Then the lesson was applied to the little ones 
themselves. Were they shining to help some one else? 
What were they doing for others, for their fathers and 
mothers, brothers and sisters, playmates and friends? If 
you use this lesson, ask, "How can you let your light 
shine, children?" Make it practical and personal, and try 
to uplift and help every child in your school room; try to 
lead all to a higher and nobler conception of life than 
they have known before. The song "Jesus bids us shine" 
would be appropriate here. 

"Jesus bids us shine 
With a clear pure light ; 
Like a little candle 
Burning in the night. 
In this world of sorrow 
We must shine 
You in your small corner 
And I in mine." 

Many letters or words may be made the basis of a 
morning lesson; for instance the word "watch." 



WATCH 



WORDS 
THOUGHTS 
DEEDS 
STEPS 



Tell the children something of this kind: "Once a little 
boy set a watch over his house, his body. He locked 
the ear door so that he couldn't hear bad words and 

34 



watched the mouth door so he wouldn't Fay them, and 
so he wouldn't let in whiskey or tobacco. He wanted to 
keep his house clean. He watched the hand servants and 
kept them so busy doing good things that they didn't 
have time to do bad ones. You know Satan always finds 
work for idle hands to do. This little boy wanted to 
work for the Lord instead of Satan so he kept his hand 
servants busy. He watched his feet servants and made 
them go on errands for other people. When his mamma 
told him to run down to the store and buy her a spool of 
"thread he went right straight; he didn't stop to play 
ball with some boys that called him. He knew his feet 
servants had some work to do. He kept the windows 
of his house (pointing to the eyes) clean and bright so 
that he could look for chances to do good. If we keep 
busy doing right we wont have time to do wrong. Children, 
watch your words. Don't call one little playmate stingy, 
another ugly, and another hateful. If you can't say 
something kind about people don't say anything. Watch 
your thoughts, because whatever you think about you 
will talk about. Watch your deeds. Do you do anything 
for your mother when you go home in the afternoon or 
do you pout and whine and beg her to let you go somewhere 
when she has said, 'no?' Watch your steps. Do they 
ever go where they ought not to go, or do they go to carry 
things to poor people and to wait on somebody who is 
tired or sick? Do you set a watch over your house to 
keep it in good order?" Use this verse from the Bible: 
"Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth! Keep thou the 
door of my lips." 

Suggest to the children that they are planting gardens 
and ask how each one is caring for his or hers? Do weeds 
grow there or pretty flowers? Weeds are ugly cross words, 

35 



bad essons, laziness, selfishness; flowers are neatness, care- 
fulness, kindness, obedience. 

The little ones may be seed sowers and talk of what 
they sow each day. The song from the hymnbook begin- 
ning: 

"Sowing in the morning 
Sowing seeds of kindness" 

would be appropriate even for children. 

The school may be a bee hive and each child compared 
to a busy bee, only they musn't buzz too much. "Are 
there any drones?" You may ask, "Is everybody busy?" 
They may be soldiers and a brisk marching song used. 

"We are soldiers of the school 
And we march in perfect time 
Always striving to obey each slight command. 
If we seek to do our best 
Upward will we ever climb. 
And we'll reach the highest places in the land. 

Chorus — Tramp, tramp, tramp, as we go marching, 

We are happy gay and free. 

Just step in our schoolroom bright 

We are sure you'd like to come 

For a happy lot of girls and boys are we." 

— Selected. 
Tune — Tramp, tramp, tramp, the boys are marching. 

Another one to be sung with the accompanying motions 
is adapted to the time of "Marching through Georgia." 

Now we'll sing our marching song, 
We'll sing it loud and clear; 
Sing it as we love to sing 
With voices full of cheer: 

36 



Sing it in our schoolroom, 

With our schoolmates all so dear; 

As we go marching on Monday. 

Chorus : 

March on! march on! 

And as we march keep time. 

March on! march on! 

As we sing our simple rhyme. 

Marching thus and singing all 

We are a happy band, 

On this bright Monday morning. 

11. Now we'll hold the right hand up, 
And now the left we hold ; 
Now we'll draw them back and forth 
And do as we are told. 
As we march as we sing 
We'll all keep perfect time 
On this bright Monday morning. 

Again the children may be told that they are climbing 
a hill and if they go down in lessons or deportment one 
day tell them to take a fresh start and try to climb up 
the next. Say to them, "Don't look back, it only wastes 
time. Never mind if you missed yesterday, do better 
today." Children need encouragement. Help them over 
the rough places. To the tune "Oh! come, come away" 
these words may be sung: 

Oh! come let us climb 

On this glad Tuesday morning. 

With faces bright 

And hearts so light 

Oh! come let us climb. 

37 



Lessons are hard but we will try 
To climb the hill; and by and by 
We'll reach the top so high. 
Oh! come let us climb. 

Teach children not to be cruel but to be kind to animals. 
Read them "Black Beauty" and "Beautiful Joe." Tell 
the story of "Daniel Webster's First Speech," or any you 
find helpful for the purpose. 

Make use of the blackboard often. Draw steps, or a 
ladder, letting them supply the words to write on each 
round as they climb higher towards true character build- 
ing. Draw daisies and turn the round centers into faces 
showing smiling, sad, or frowning countenances and ask 
which they are like. 

Draw a bee-hive on the board and put in or near it the 
names of the busy studious pupils' Do not put the 
names of the drones. Call attention to the good, not the 
bad. 

The children may be taught the names of the twelve 
Apostles by allowing them to sing this little verse: 

Tune — I want to be an angel. 

"Of all the twelve Apostles 
Our Savior gives the names, 
John, Philip, Andrew, Peter, 
Bartholomew and James. 
Thaddeus, Thomas, Matthew, 
Judas Iscariot, 
James, Simon, and when 
Judas fell 
Matthias, chose by lot. 

38 



For a morning prayer this song is pretty: 

"Father we thank thee for the night, ■ 

And for the pleasant morning light. 
For rest and food and loving care 
And all that makes the day so fair. 
Help us to do the things we should. 
To be to others kind and good. 
In all our work and all our play. 
To grow more loving every day." 

The tune, "Stand up, stand up for Jesus," may be with 
a little change adapted to these words. 

For teaching the geography of the Holy Land draw on 
the board the map. 




39 



Show that the right side is a straight line about four 
times as long as the hne across the top, and twice as long 
as the southern boundary; that the bend in the coast Hne 
is opposite the Sea of Galilee; and that the Dead Sea is 
shaped Uke a mitten with the thunb turned to the east. 
These words may be recited as the drawing is made on 
the board : 

"The slanting coast hne here we find 
And bring it first before the mind. 
The Jordan River next we see 
Then Mermon Lake and Galilee. 
Then on and on the Jordon flows, 
It turns and twists but on it goes. 
Reaching at last the great Dead Sea, 
Far south of the blue Galilee. 
We westward look from Palestine 
And there beyond the long coast line 
The Mediteranean Sea appears 
Called the Great Sea in early years." 

(May be sung to the tune "Maryland my Maryland.") 

This is taken from an article in an old copy of the 
Sunday School Times. A whole song about the Holy 
Land, words and music may be found in "Songs for God's 
Little Ones," published by R. R. McCabe & Co., 106 S. 
Clinton street, Chicago. This teaches the children to 
locate the cities, mountains and seas in a way which they 
enjoy. 

"Sunshine" is suggestive for opening exercises. Talk 
of the good it does to trees, vegetables, flowers; to animals 
and to people. Make "A visit to Sunshine land" with 
the children. Discuss how they may 

40 



"Make sunshine in the house 
When there is none without." 

Use a prism to throw the colors of the spectrum on the 
wall. Let the children sing, "Good mornini^ merry sun- 
shine," "Let a little sunshine in," "There is sunshine in 
my heart today," or 

"Are you shining, shining, 
Shining now for Jesus 
Shining every moment 
Shining all the time ? 
Are you shining, shining, 
Shining now for Jesus 
Shining with a Ught sublime?" 

For the first song, or as the children come in, sing this: 

"Good morning dear children 
Good morning to all. 
The clock points the hour 
And we come at its call. 
We're happy in work and 
We're happy in play. 
Then hurrah ! then hurrah ! 
For each happy day." 

On the birthdays of noted people the exercises may be 
about them, and on Valentine's day miottoes may be 
given to the children written on little slips of paper for 
each child to learn. Have these suit the various natures. 

For the little girl who frowns, write: 

"As welcome as sunshine 
In every place 
Is the beautiful smile 

Of a good natured face " 

41 



The boy who lacks perseverance may have : 

"All that's great and good is done 
Just by patient trying." 

The child who does not like to finish things may have: 

"If a task is once begun 
Never leave it till it is done." 

Others that may be useful are: 

"Beautiful hands are those that do 
Deeds that are noble, good and true." 

"Do your best, your very best, 
And do it every day 
Little boys and little girls 
That is the wisest way." 

"Blessed are the peace makers." 

"There's work for me 
There's work for you. 
Something for each of us 
Now to do." 

"Whatever is worth doing at all 
Is worth doing well." 

"Never put off till tomorrow 
That which you can do today." 

"He that is good at making excuses 
Is seldom good for anything else." 

"Do all the good you can 
In all the ways you can 
To all the people you can 
Just as long as you can." 

42 



CHAPTER V 



READING. 



One of the hardest things in school work is to take a 
class of beginners and teach them to read, and yet the 
task is a pleasant one. Their minds are full of ideas which 
they cannot express; all the world is new to them; they 
are sweet, innocent, full of wonder and eager to learn. 
What could be more interesting than to be with them 
from day to day and help to draw out and develop their 
powers? How can we grow impatient with such little 
things and scold one when he does not know his lesson? 

A child can't learn his letters all in a minute or even a 
day, any more than a grown person can learn the Greek 
language in the same length of time. The alphabet is as 
hard to the child as the letters would be to one totally 
unfamiliar with it. The letters must be learned of course, 
and not until they are learned can the child take the book 
and study out the lesson for himself. Teaching, however, 
must be a very gradual process. Sight reading phonics, 
and writing should all go together and the letters be 
learned incidentally. It is just as reasonable to introduce 
a child to twenty-six people at one time and expect him 
to remember all of their names, as to force on him the 
whole alphabet at first. When the letters are taught, 
there should be some idea to fix each one in mind. Say 
that one is little "a." When she has her cap on, she 
says "a," and when she has a straight mark over her 
head she says "a." Again you may name one little Mr. 

43 



"b" and say that .when he is grown he looks*like this, 
"B." The letters "o," "s," and "k" are easily learned. 
The first is the way the mouth looks when it says "oh", 
the second curls about like a snake, and says what the 
snake says, "s" (giving the sound only.) The "k," poor 
old fellow has a broken back, and when "c" sounds like 
"k" we put a collar on him thus: "-c." 

Such little devices are always helpful in teaching children 
the alphabet, but the best results are reached by beginning 
with the sounds of letters and with sight reading. These 
two methods are called respectively the phonetic and the 
word method. Both should be taught from the start but 
the lesson should be so arranged that instead of having 
one long period the children should be taught at several 
different times. Early in the morning spend fifteen or 
twenty minutes on the word method, then later when the 
children have had, for a change of occupation, number 
work, busy work, or play, call them up again for a short 
drill on phonics. The oftener they can recite the faster 
they will learn, provided the lessons are made interesting 
and the time given to each one is short. In other words 
teach beginners in "broken doses" instead of spending 
thirty or forty minutes on one recitation. 

Word Method or Sight Reading. It is not necessary 
for the children to have books for the first two weeks, 
though many excellent teachers prefer that they should. 
A chart may be used or where there is no chart, one 
Primer or First Reader owned by the teacher can with 
the help of the blackboard work be made sufficient for 
the needs of all. Perhaps the first word suggested by 
the book or chart is "hen." Show the picture, get the 
children to talk. Ask, "Mary, have you ever seen a hen? 
Was it like this one?" After they have become interested 

44 



and you have told what you know on the subject, tell 
them that you will make another pictore of a hen and 
then write the word in plain letters on the board. Ask 
them to look at it carefully, so they will know it the next 
time they see it. Erase and write some other word, as 
"dog" and ask "Is this hen?" "Erase, and write another 
word and another, asking each time, "Is this 'hen'?" 

Then write "hen" again and see if they will recognize 
it. Write a sentence containing it and let them point 
it out. To know this one word at sight is enough for 
the first lesson. If you have perception cards hang the 
one containing "hen" in a conspicuous place where the 
children can see it during the day. These cards may be 
made of stiff white paper and the writing should be large 
and very plain. ' A sharpened stick or the point of a pen 
staff may serve for a pen, and black ink should be used, 
or they may be written \vith a soft crayon pencil. If 
prepared during vacation and those words written which 
are to be taught from day to day, they will be found very 
helpful. Don't attempt to teach the children at first 
that h-e-n spells "hen" but simply to know that word as 
a whole whenever and wherever they see it. 

Next day take a new w^ord suggested by book or chart. 
It may be "boy" or "cat" or "ball." If it is the latter 
and you can make it convenient to do so, show a ball. 
Go through a similar process to that of the previous day. 
Ask about the color, size and shape of the ball. What is 
it made of and what is it for? Write "ball" on the board 
and let the little ones learn it by sight. Hang up the 
perception card which has "ball" on it, and use the word 
in sentences, allowing the children to point it out. Review 
"hen" and see if they remember it. On the third day take 
a new word and proceed in the same manner. Incidentally 



45 



bring in other words as "the" and "see." Write sentences 
as: "I see the hen. I see a hen. I see the ball. I see 
a ball." One new word each day with an occavsional 
outside one, as "and," "has" or "an" is enough to teach. 
Always review the words previously learned. Keep the 
blackboard drills up and form your letters carefully, 
remembering that they serve as models. For a part of 
the busy work give each day the new word learned, for a 
writing lesson, and when it isn't too hard let the children 
draw what they write about. The imitation may be poor 
but let them make the attempt. Drawing aids in forming 
and retaining ideas. Make haste slowly and don't look 
for results too soon. It takes eight or nine weeks for the 
foundation to be laid and when that part of the work has 
been well done, success will crown your efforts. Use script 
letters during this period and if each lesson is thoroughly 
mastered by the pupils, the transition from script to print 
will be easy. 

Have word hunts. Before school put on the board a 
number of words which the children have learned and 
ask Mary to point to one which she knows. Let James 
name one and erase it. Have another child to show you 
one and so continue until the words are all gone. Draw 
a ladder and write a word on each round, then tell one of 

hen 



bird 



doj 



mat 



-gg 



46 



the children to start at the bottom and see if he can go 
to the top without faUing off, which means of course to 
call the bottom word at sight, the next, the next, etc. If 
one fails have another to try. 

Draw a tree with fruit and play the words are birds. 
As the words are named let the birds fly away, (erase the 
words.) Do not play shooting the birds for boys are too 
ready to do that. Teach kindness to all dumb creatures. 




Draw a table and write the words learned, in the dishes. 



cTD cz^ ci::> 



E\ 



In this as in other studies make play of the work and 
invent games that will help in teaching. Hang out all 
of the perception cards that have been taught and ask 
one child to see how many he can name. See who can 



47 



name all without a mistake or who can name the most. 
If you do not use the large cards write the words that 
have been learned on little pieces of stiff paper about an 
inch by an inch and a half and keep them in a box. Some 
day for review hold them up one at a time and let the 
children tell their names. Hand the little card to the 
one who answers first and whoever gets the most wins 
the game. These cards may be used in another way. 
Supply each child w4th enough to arrange in sentences 
at his desk. 

Write new combinations on the board continually, com- 
posed of words familiar to the class. Even when the 
stock is small, sentences innumerable can be made. Sup- 
pose they have learned "boy," "ball," "see," "the, ""apple," 
"has," "I" and "and," you can make 

I see a boy. 

I see a ball. 

I see the boy. 

I see the ball. 

I see the apple. 

I see the boy and the ball. 

I see the boy and the apple. 

The boy has the ball. 

The boy has the apple. 
Thus by changing the order of the words the word- 
pictures are more impressed on the child's mind. 

The Phonetic Method. For this branch of the work 
teach the sounds, not the name of letters. Teach the 
sound of "f" by putting the upper front teeth on the 
lower lip and forcing the breath through. Teach the 
sound of "m" by telling that the cow says "m." 

Close the lips and force the voice through the nose for 
this. Give only one or two sound-names a day, teaching 

48 



the easier consonants and long vowels first. Make up 
little things to illustrate how these sounds are made, as: 
"Once there was a little boy who lived near a railroad 
track and he had a pet dog that used to bark at the cat 
and make her very angry. He would say r-r-r-r-r and she 
would strike at him with her paw and say f-f-f." Ask the 
children what it was the dog said and then write the 
letter "r" on the board. In the same way teach the 
sound "f." Erase and then write one of the letters again 
and ask "Is this what the dog said?" Next day continue 
the story, as: "One day an old cow was on the track and 
she said m-m-m-. Away down the track was the station 
and there the little boy saw a train. The smoke was 
coming up and the train was saying p-p-p-" (Press the 
lips firmly together and force them open suddenly for 
this sound.) "The boy was so afraid that the train would 
run over the poor old cow that he called his dog and told 
him to go and drive her away. He said s-s-s to the dog. 
Just then the train left the station and sounded this way, 
ch-ch-ch-ch; and the dog said r-r-r-r-r and drove the cow 
away." Connect these sounds with the things which 
represent them, so that wherever the child sees "ch" for 
instance, if he can't think what it stands for, remind him 
that it is what the train said. Any such story or stories 
will serve the purpose, and by catching and holding the 
child's attention will fix in his memory that which you 
are trying to teach him, the sounds which the letters 
represent. The letters "sh" should be taught as one 
sound; it is what a mother says when she wants you to 
be quiet and not w^ake her baby. The bee says z-z-z. 
The old gander says th-th-th. 

There is no special order in which to teach the sounds 
of letters except to teach the easiest ones first, f, 1, m, r, 

49 



s, sh, th, ch, etc. Long vowels are easier than short ones 
and of the latter, short "i" is the hardest to learn and 
should be taught last. Use the blackboard a great deal 
and put there from day to day not only the new sound 
to be taught but also the ones already learned. Pointing 
from one to another have the children to give the sounds 
and thus form words. From the list f, m, 1, r, a, i, o, 0, 
t, ch, s, sh, may be made ail, mail, rail, sail, fame, lame, 
tame, same, roll, toll, soul, mole, and others. If the 
syllable "ing" be added to the list and taught as one 
sound "ing," they can form longer words as 

ailing failing sailing 

ring sing ringing. 

In teaching these, remember that the object is not to 
teach the children to spell words nor to know them by 
sight, but simply to know instantly the sound which each 
letter represents, so that when new words are presented 
and marked, they can tell how to pronounce them even 
when ignorant of their meaning. 

Families of Words. As soon after beginning as you 
think expedient teach the families of words. There is 
the "cat" family; at, bat, rat, chat, fat, hat, flat, mat, 
Nat, pat, rat, sat, and that, all belonging to it. Set 
copies of these words in the composition books, straight 
across the page, or down on one side, so that the words 
which the children write may be on a line with your 
copies instead of under them. Write "at" on the board 
in a number of places and then ask, "Mary, what shall I 
turn one of these words into? All right, what must I 
put in front of it? Yes, that is right: I'll put what the 
dog says 'r.' Now we have r — at, rat. Suppose I want 
to make 'hat' what must I put in front of this? (Point 

50 



to another 'at.') I'll write what tlie dog says when he 
has been running and is very tired, 'h, h, h.' (Give sound 
only.) Now we have h— at 'hat.' " Teach the "pan" 
family, an, Ann, can, Dan, fan, man, pan, ran, tan, van 
Again say, "If this (writing on the board) says 'ap' what 
does this say?" (writing m — ap.) Teach "ing" as one 
sound and writing it putjdifferent letters in front, thus 
making ring, sing, cHng, string, wing, etc. 




Draw an umbrella. Write on it the word "all." Above 
put the sounds you have taught to the children. Play 
they are rain drops and let children make words with 
them, as call, ball, fall. 




In the Second Year teach children to use the dia- 
critical marks, to some extent, and call attention to the 



51 



silent letters. To know and to be able to use the marks 
helps children in both spelling and reading. It makes 
them independent. They do not have to ask: "What 
does this spell?" but can find out for themselves. Take 
"field," for example. A well-taught child will know when 
he sees the markings that "i" is silent and "e" is long, and, 
without hesitation, will give the sounds "f-e-l-d" and 
say "field." 

For busy work allow pupils to illustrate their lessons 
occasionally, by drawing and paper cutting. 

As to the manner of conducting a reading class in the 
second, third or fourth grade, no two can be taught exactly 
in the same way. Some classes advance more rapinly 
than others and study harder. One method will cause 
pupils to be interested and enthusiastic for awhile, and 
then they will grow tired, and a change w411 be beneficial. 
Sometimes they like to have head and foot, and trap 
each other, in the old-fashioned way, and some grow 
angry and display temper, while others are discouraged, 
because, though they study hard, they are poor readers. 
In most modern and progressive schools this method is 
no longer in practice, and yet many excellent teachers 
like it because they say it stimulates pupils to study. One 
great objection to it is that pupils take up time, which 
should be spent on the lesson, discussing where they 
belong in the class, who is head, who is next? etc. 

In reading classes give short lessons, and require^'the 
pupils to learn them thoroughly. Each day go over 
with the children the words for the next day's lesson. 
Teach them to call these at sight; most of the words in 
the readers at the head of each lesson, are put there for 
sight words, and should be taught as such. , If they are 
to be spelled off the book, choose only the easiest ones. 

52 



Many words, which a child can learn readily at sight, 
would be difficult for him to spell. Teach children to 
read naturally and with expression. In order that they 
may do this, see that they understand what they have. 
Don't allow them to read in a jerky, or sing-song fashion, 
but smoothly, and with proper emphasis. 

One method, sometimes employed in reading classes, 
is to let a child read until he mispronounces a word, when 
the next pupil takes it up where the first left off. This 
one reads till he misses, when a third begins, and so the 
reading continues around the class. This forces children 
to pay close attention, because, if one does not see the 
mistake made by the one above him, he forfeits his time 
to read till his turn comes again. If the class is small, the 
first one to see the mistake each time may begin reading. 
Again, a pupil may read a verse or several verses, if they 
are short, and when he has finished, the teacher may tell 
the mistakes. A half-page may be given to each, or a 
page, and, at the close of the lesson, tell who made the 
smallest number of mistakes. If unusual words occur, 
talk about them, ask the meaning and use them in sen- 
tences. The length of the lesson and the way in which 
it should be taught, must be determined by the size of 
the class and by the length of time allowed for recita- 
tion. If you adopt a plan, and find it does not work, try 
another. 

Go over many times the words at the head of the lessons 
so that children may be thoroughly familiar with them. 
Teach them as sight words only. Introduce word games 
when you think it will help pupils to learn more readily. 

Occasionally have reviews, and allow each child to 
choose a lesson, or a part of a lesson which he likes espec- 
ially to read. Have supplementary readers and lessons 

53 



from other books, or from reading slips cut from school 
journals and pasted on card board to make them durable. 
A composition may sometimes be used as a reading lesson. 
Let the children, occasionally illustrate what they read 
about. Even if crude, the drawings will show the child's 
idea, and the lesson will be more interesting to him. 

Try to conduct your class in such a way that all will pay 
attention and be ready to read when called upon. Re- 
wards prove an incentive to good lessons. Give a little 
card or badge for each perfect recitation, and when a 
certain number of these have been collected, give a Perry 
picture or reward of some kind. 

There are two objects sought when we teach a child to 
read. The more important is that we wish him to learn 
to read understandingly the printed page, so that if for 
any reason his school life should be interrupted, he could 
go on with his education alone. The other object sought 
is to teach the child to read orally with expression and 
fluency. 

To insure correct emphasis give drills on some sentence 
read in different ways, as: This is a white dog. This is 
a white dog. This is a white dog. This is a white dog. 

Reading is an art which" may be acquired by all. 



54 



CHAPTER VI. 

SPELLING. 

Oral spelling alone is not sufficient, written spelling 
alone is not sufficient, but both should be taught to children. 
Adopt some method of conducting the recitation, and, as 
long as it works well, follow it, but if the interest wanes, 
try another. Have the children to bring the written 
words to the class, copied from the book, and require 
that the work shall be neat and the letters carefully 
formed. Each pupil may have these in a book, tablet, or 
spelling blank. After they have been carefully looked 
over and graded by the teacher, the children may spell 
the lesson orally and write it in the class. 

Blackboard w^ork is helpful; an objection to this, how- 
ever, is that pupils may be tempted to copy from each 
other. This may be avoided by giving one word to the 
first, third, fifth, and seventh pupils, etc., and the next 
word to the other half of the class. See that the letters 
of the words on the board are properly formed; that they 
•don't "jump up" off the lines or "run down hill;" that 
the small ones are uniform in height, and the large ones 
likewise. Teach children to dot the i's and to cross the 
t's, and to let their work present a trim, clean appearance 
If tw^elve words are to -be written, let them make twelve 
lines and number them. Sometimes it will be found 
convenient to have one or more of the larger pupils draw 
these lines on the board ready for the class. 

55 



Give short lessons and require the pupils to study them 
well before they are called upon to recite. If all of the 
members of a class come up with bad lessons, it is a good 
sign that those lessons are too long, and, therefore, too 
hard. Teach the diacritical marks, not all at once but a 
few -at a time. A knowledge of their meaning helps one 
not only to spell words but to pronounce new ones. In 
order to teach these marks learn them thoroughly your- 
self. You may think they are not important but they 
are. Give drills on them. Ask the children to give you 
a word with a long ",a" as "fail," "tame." Then ask for 
those containing long "e," as "mete," "beat," "me." In 
the same way take the short vowels, and then "ii" with 
two dots over it, as in "arm;" with two dots under it as 
in the word "all," etc. 

Make a chart of the sounds learned. Teach a sound 
thoroughly before going to another. 

Write on the board new and unfamiliar words and see 
if the pupils can tell by their marks what they are. Have 
reviews often, and have one child to write a word occa- 
sionally while another marks it and still another pro- 
nounces it. Go over one day the lesson for the next 
day, making the children call out the words without 
help if possible. Have w^ritten reviews also. If a word 
seems to be particularly hard call ver}^ special attention 
to it. Put it on the board in a conspicuous place. Have 
it discussed, erased, written again, marked and spelled a 
number of times orally. 

To teach sight words, draw a brick arch and on each 
brick write a word. To pass through the arch the child 
must know every word. Draw a snow fort. Have sides 
and let each side try to capture the fort. Each child 
who can say all of the words written on the fort, scores 

56 



a point. When all of the children on a side can say all 
of the words, the fort is captured. 

Call attention to the silent letters in words. Write the 
word "lame?" Say that this letter says "1" (giving 
sound), this one says "a," this one "m" and this one (e) 
doesn't say anything. Let's rub it off. Does the word 
still spell "lame?" Yes, it still spells "lame" even after 
we rub out the "e." Let children write their owm name 
and mark them. This is a great help in teaching the 
diacritical marks. 

Let them give vowel sounds in their own and each 
other's names. You give sounds and let them guess 
which name it is, as E a (Lena), a (James), a i (Mary), 
a c (Albert), I ii e (Idalee), etc. 

We learn how to spell words by seeing them, by hear- 
ing them and by pronouncing them. The sense of sight 
must be appealed to and the sense of hearing. Besides 
this the children must be taught how to use the lips and 
tongue in making the various sounds and combination of 
sounds. The sight method must be combined with the 
phonetic for both are important. There are people who 
can spell orally almost any word you give them, who 
make frequent mistakes in writing, and when we feflect 
that by a person's spelling he is often judged, we realize 
how necessary it is to spell correctly. When one is exam- 
ined for a certificate to teach, or for the Civil Service, the 
amount of his education is determined by his spelling and 
his manner of expressing himself. The same is true when 
a letter of application is written for a situation of almost 
any kind. 

Teach children to pronounce distinctly. Do not let 
them say "wite" for "white," "wot" for "what," "ask" 
for "asked," and "fo teen" for "fourteen." 

57 



In the class it is good training for the pupils to let 
them correct each other's work. It teaches them^to be 
observant and to know what is right. Then too it stimu- 
lates those who write badly to do better when they see 
the neat pages of others. When you give a word to be 
spelled do not repeat it. Train the children to be^ atten- 
tive, and to listen. Give it out distinctly and clearly and 
require the class to be quiet so that all may hear. Dicta- 
tion lessons are helpful. Give out a whole sentence to 
be spelled and if a pupil misses a word or spells the wrong 
word, pass it on. 

Seeing a word often, does not necessarily teach a person 
how to spell it. In a large school fifty-four pupils were 
examined in Geography. The papers were good, some of 
them excellent, btit the word "Geography" written at the 
top of each paper was spelled in twenty-seven different 
ways. 

A game for the spelling-class suitable for Friday after- 
noon is called the "Think-quick game." Require the 
answers to be given at once, without a moment's hesita- 
tion. 

If one child fails pass the question quickly to another. 
Tell one to spell a word that rhymes with "band," with 
"lame" or with "tree." Ask such questions as: How 
many letters are in your last name? Your first? Spell a 
word beginning with "r," wdth "t," with "h." Spell a 
word with four letters; another; another. Spell the name 
of a color; a tree; a flower; a person. Take away the first 
letter from "blend." what word will be left? Take away 
another letter and what have we? etc. 

A different game may be played with a box of anagrams 
which you can make yourself, by putting letters on little 
half -inch squares of cardboard or paste-board. 

58 



Holding up an "a" say, "Who can spell a word beginning 
with "a?" Hand it to the child who gives one first. The 
pupil who gets the greatest number of cards wins. Other 
games may be invented with the anagrams which are 
useful for busy- work also, the children forming words 
with them at their desks. 

In many schools those who are in the first grade are 
not allowed to have spelling-books, but- are taught to 
spell the words in their Readers. When this is done the 
teacher should use discretion about the words she gives 
to be learned "by heart." Some of those in the Readers 
are intended as sight words only and are too difficult for 
the children to spell. Choose those that are adapted to 
the powers of the child mind, and during the preparation 
period, the first six or eight weeks of a child's school 
life, he should not spell at all. If a spelling book is used 
in the first grade use a simple one for beginners such as 
Pollard's Synthetic Speller for Primary Classes. 

Call attention every now and then, to words that are 
alike in sound but different in meaning and spelling, as: 
hear — here four — fore 

see — sea meat — meet 

our — hour pail — pale 

their — there buy — by 

flour — flower wood — would 

blue — blew^ nose — knows 

to too two 

pare pair pear 

Mark in your book the words missed by the class from 
time to time, and use your spare moments in reviewing 
them, or have a special lesson on them. 

Teach spelling not only in the class but in all the written 
work which you give to children. If they bring original 

59 



examples in Arithmetic, if they write a list of places 
mentioned in the Geography lesson, or of persons and 
events in the History, caution them to be careful about 
spelling. In the language work insist upon this, and 
if mistakes are made at first, call attention to them and 
have the pupils to try again. Offer a reward of some 
kind to the one who can write a letter with no mistakes 
in spelling or punctuation. For busy-work give to the 
children copies to write, containing the words which they 
have missed in spelling. Some children have words which 
they invariably get wrong, and it is only by repeated 
efforts and continual reminders that you can teach them 
to spell these words correctly. 

Give oral work and written work. Have children to 
copy into tablets all mispelled words to be used on review 
days. 




60 



CHAPTER VII. 

NUMBERS. 

Arrange the schedule so that the number work and 
Arithmetic classes shall come early in the day, when the 
mind is fresh and capable of clear thinking. 

Make the recitation short; young children should not 
be forced to concentrate their thoughts on one subject 
for long at a time. During the first year of a child's 
school-life, the lesson should not last longer than fifteen 
minutes. 

It is the abstract character of much number work that 
makes it hard for children, hence we should seek to make 
it concrete. Supply yourself with materials for counting, 
such as tooth-picks, shoe-pegs, corn, or empty spools, and 
have a standard Primary Arithmetic or Teacher's Manual, 
such as Wentworth's, published by Ginn & Co., Boston. 
For still better work you should have in addition to these, 
some toy money, several rulers and tin measuring cups, 
pint, quart, half -gall on and gallon. 

With a class of beginners teach the children during the 
first month to count to ten, and show them the various 
combinations of numbers. Begin with four. 

3-1-1=4 

1^3=4 

2^2=4 

4—3=1 

4—2=2 

4—1=3 

4-^2=2 

i of 4=2 

61 



Before going to a new number see that they know this 
in all of its combinations, then take up six, seven, etc. 
From the first, teach addition, subtraction, multiplication, 
division and fractions, making all simple and attractive. 

Let the pupils advance as rapidly as they wish, but be 
careful not to tax their minds. Usually they are not 
more than seven years old and too often only six. Children 
should not be sent to school before they are seven, but if 
parents will send them at five and six years of age, don't 
injure their little minds with what is beyond them, but 
let them simply come to the class and pick up wdiat they 
can from the others. 

Make the members of the class find out answers for 
themselves with the help of counters. If there is plenty 
of blackboard space let them illustrate when they like, 
with lines, circles, or anything which they can draw. 

Vary the lessons. If the children grow tired of the 
spools, use the grains of corn aw^hile, when these lose their 
charm get out the tooth-picks, and when the novelty has 
worn off from them the toy money will be useful. Occas- 
ionally have a store and sell imaginary articles, making 
the pupils give the right amount of change. The money 
may be made of paste-board, stiff' paper, or old tablet 
backs, using the real coins for patterns. 

Let the play element enter largely into your number 
work, it is a great help and causes the class to take a 
lively interest in the lessons. Give some days to asking 
questions of this kind : 

How many boys are in this class? 

How many girls? 

How many children? 

How many fingers have James and Tom? 

How many eyes have all of you? 

62 



How many windows arc in this room' 

How many doors? 

During the second month use the ruler as the basis of 
your lessons. Teach what it is for, how long it is, and 
how many inches are in a foot. Have the children to 
draw lines with it and then to make clear, correct, oral 
statements, as: "I have drawn a line one foot long," or 
"I have drawn three lines and each is one foot long." 

Let them try to make a line one foot long without the 
ruler and then test it to see if it is correct. Try the same 
with the inch measure and let them make figures of this 
kind: 

A C □ Zl V 

making each line an inch long. Pointing from one to 
another have them to tell how many one inch lines are 
in each figure. 

Do not try to have every child do as much as every 
other child, and do not suppose that one is stupid if he 
doesn't learn Arithmetic readily. All can learn it if the}^ 
are properly taught though some are quicker than others. 
As a rule children like it in the first year and continue 
to do so unless advanced too rapidly. When a boy or 
girl hates mathematics it is because he or she did not 
have a good start and does not understand what has 
gone before. Such a pupil should have extra help and 
encouragement and if lessons are still too hard, should 
be put back. It is doing a child the greatest injustice 
to force him to keep up with things beyond his compre- 
hension. When you take a new school, see what each 
pupil knows about numbers, before assigning the grade. 
Children will tell you they are in the fourth grade some- 

63 



times, when they really belong in the second. It is easier 
to advance a pupil if he is classified too low, than to put 
back one who classified too high. 

Teach the symbols early: -| X -^- and =; children 

learn them easily. No two classes can be taught exactly 
in the same way, some can advance more rapidly than 
others. Your teaching must be guided by the progress 
made. After children in the first year have gone as far 
as the number nine, such a variety of combinations may 
be made that it is a good plan to give each child nine 
counters, and tell him to make as many examples as 
possible with them. Have the children to put these on 
the board, or in tablets, and tell them to see who can 
make the most. There will be 

3+3+3=9 9— 3=() 9-^3=3 

4+2+3=9 9—2=7 i of 9—3 

5+2+2=9 9—4=5 5+-4=9 

3x2+3=9 3X3=9 0+3—9 

and many others which will suggest themselves to children. 
Again, let them say in concert, or separately, as you 
illustrate with the spools: 

1 and 8 are 9 

2 and 7 are 9 

3 and 6 are 9 

4 and 5 are 9 

5 and 4 are 9 
(3 and 3 are 9 

7 and 2 are 9 

8 and 1 are 9 

H4 



2 


2 


o 


5 


(') 


S 


8 


3 


4 


o 


") 


1 


8 


2 



Teach them to write this table at first with help, then 
without. Give blackboard drills by having ready on the 
board figures under each other, as 



Add 



and point rapidly from one to another till the pupils have 
learned to give the answers at a glance. Don't allow 
them to say "two and three make five," but simply "five," 
"six," "six," etc. Let them give the answer only. Sim- 
ilar drills can be used for subtraction and multiplication. 

As, during one month you have used the foot and inch 
measure as a basis for lessons, so later in the session you 
can teach about pints, quarts and gallons, using the 
genuine tin cups and buckets, if convenient; if not, they 
may be drawn on the board. It doesn't matter if you 
are not skillful with the chalk. If you make your m^eaning 
clear that is all that is necessary. 

For teaching fractions an apple is an excellent object. 

Show how^ I is equal to 2-4, and ^ to 2-0. Busy work 
is very helpftil in number teaching. Supply each child 
with a little box of shoe-pegs, beans, or kindergarten 
straws, and let him arrange these in groups of two, three 
or four. Take the composition books home with you on 
Friday, and put down enough examples to leep the little 
ones busy till the next Frida}^ They are very fond of 
what are called string examples, as 

3+4+6+1+2+3+8+3=? 
65 



Put some with the minus sign, and others under each 
other, to be added, as 



1 


2 


6 


5 


6 


2 


4 


5 


5 


2 


3 


3 


4 


3 


2 


4 


6 


6 


3 


8 


2 


1 


1 


1 


2 



In this work make your figures plain, and make them 
large, because children are inclined to make theirs large, 
and yours should be in keeping with them. 

Vary your copies with multiplication, division, and some 
in addition like these : 

321 415 334 415 

' 123 131 102 160 



The children may be given copies to show the three 
ways in which a number can be written : 

12 3 4 

one two three four 

I II III IV 

or they may be told to write the figure one and draw one 

apple, to write the figure "two" and draw two apples, etc: 

O OO O O ci> 

1 2 3 

If allowed to color the apples, oranges, cherries, or flags 
which they draw, they will be delighted. Six colors may 
be bought for four cents at racket stores, and if a teacher 
has even one set they will be found helpful. If the children 
can buy their own colors, it is better. 

66 



For a chanj^c, put little examples on the board before- 
hand, every day for a week or more, and let the children 
pass at once to the places assigned, so that no time will 
be lost, and all will be working at once. If you are too 
busy to put this work on the board yourself, there can 
always be found some boy or girl in a higher grade who 
will be glad to do it for you. If your class is large, so that 
you find it difficult to get to all w^ho need help, these same 
older boys and girls make good assistants and enjoy 
playing teacher. Examples on the board may be utilized 
in another way. If you have oral work during the recita- 
tion, that on the board may serve to keep the children 
busy during the period w^hich follows. 

In the first year teach a little of the multiplication table. 
The second, third and fifth lines are easily learned. Classes 
vary; sometimes the children are eager to go beyond 
these, and as long as these are interested, and you have 
short lessons, they may be allowed to do so. If you have 
a chart with the table on it, let them study and copy the 
first lines. 

Ask a little girl how many letters are in her name? In 
her father's name? In the name of the town where she 
lives? Ask how many cents are in a dime? A quarter? 
A half dollar? A dollar? How^ many days are there in 
a week? In two weeks? In three weeks? How many 
eggs make a dozen? Three dozen? Four dozen? 

Don't think that you are compelled to follow^ a text- 
book too closely, or teach exactly as some other teacher 
does. Be original, use your own ideas, your own methods. 
Prepare examples of your own, and let the children make 
up others. Whenever a thing is difficult for a child to 
understand, make it plain and simple. Illustrate much 
w4th objects or chalk. If one cannot understand that 

67 



five and six make eleven, draw five lines and six lines, 
five circles and six circles, or show five spools and six 
spools. If the example is twelve less seven, let one draw 
twelve marbles, rub out seven and tell how many are 
left. 

Have children to make their figures plainly and care- 
fully. Dun't allow curls and flourishes to the 2.'s and 3's 
nor let the small horizontal line of the figure 5 be made 
separate from the other part. Teach them to be accu- 
rate. If a line is to be made an inch long, let it be an 
inch long, not an inch and a quarter. 

Review frequently, so that you may be sure the pupils 
are learning. Mere information is not what you wish to 
give children, but power to think for themselves. "Reci- 
tation is for the sake of the pupil's effort, not the teacher's, 
and whatever display of energy there may be must come 
from them." 

It is very important that children get a good start in 
numbers. If they do not understand everything in going 
over it, they cannot master what comes after. In teaching 
numbers by progressive stages, be sure to teach one 
thoroughly before going to the next. Make examples in 
many different ways and let children occasionally bring 
in original examples which they have illustrated by means 
of drawings. In the first grade one would be on this 
order: "If Lucy had sixteen marbles and gave Tom 
eight, how many would she have left?" A first grade 
pupil could not do this, of course, until toward the close 
of the session. He could answer the number part of it 
long before he could write it out. When one is able to 
originate and write such examples, it teaches not only 
number work, but is helpful for spelling, language and 
drawing. Let the sixeten marbles be drawn, and a 

68 



line made through eight of them, and under all put 10 — 

8=:8. 

Draw a ladder and put examples on the rounds. Play 
that the children are firemen and see how quickly they 
can go up the ladder, not reading the figures aloud but 
giving the answers only. 

In the second year, children can easily compose and 
illustrate examples. If one writes, "A watermelon costs 
20 cents, what will four cost?" let the four melons be 
drawn and colored green, and 20 cents written under 
each. In larger figures, under the whole thing, let the 
child write: 4X20=80. Reward those children who have 
neat, careful work by putting their papers on the wall, or 
keeping them for public exhibition. 

Let children learn the pairs that always go together in 
making certain numbers, as when the lesson is about the 
number "ten," "seven" suggests "three," "six" suggests 
"four," because when forming "ten" those go together. 
If "seven" be taken away, "three" remains; if "six" is 
taken the number "four" is left: When adding a column 
several figures should be looked at as one ; for instance 
when two and three are placed near each other, instantly 
one should think of 5. while 6 and 6 suggested the number 
12. In a column like this 

6 

4 

7 

3 



if children have been Avell taught little hands will be 
rapidly raised and almost before you finish writing the 



69 



figures, the answer will come from a number of sources, 
"thirty." The children know that six and four make 
ten, that seven and three make ten, and that eight and 
two make ten. They have been taught also that three 
tens make thirty. 

Teach that if eight and two are ten, eighteen and two 
are twenty, twenty-eight and two are thirty; if five and 
six make eleven, twenty-five and six make thirty-one, 
ending in the same figure. It is surprising how rapidly 
young minds can add, and if taught to thus shorten the 
process it will always seem easy to the children. 

To recapitulate, during the first year use objects or 
illustrate frequently on the board by means of lines, marks 
or objects drawn. Make lessons very simple; go to highei 
numbers gradually. Have short lessons, not in the after- 
noon but early in the day. Teach numbers in all theii 
combinations from one to twenty. Use a first year book 
or manual or have some definite systematic plan of your 
own. Have variety and give seat-work that will help to 
develop the mind. 

In the first year the pupil has had the use of objects, has 
handled them, played with them, separated, combined and 
made original examples with them. He has learned 
gradually the signs and figures, what they stand for and 
how to make them. 

In the SECOND year begin with a review of previous 
work. Use objects still if it is necessary, for while the 
children will be able to do much without them, there will 
be times when they will be needed. Suppose the book 
contains an example of this kind, and the child can't 
understand it: "If a girl bought a dozen oranges at five 
cents each, what would they all cost?" To make it clear 
have twelve oranges drawn on the board, and put the 

70 



figure 5 under each one. In this way it is made so plain 
that a child can easily comprehend it. 

Teach how to "carry" in addition, how to "borrow" 
and "pay back" in subtraction. Teach the entire multi- 
plication table if the children in the class are capable of 
mastering it. They should memorize it, write it back- 
ward and forward, and be able to answer questions when 
you "skip about." Put numbers on the board for drill, 
particularly these combinations: 

Multiply 9 8 9 7 8 7 
7 7 6 7 8 8 
and teach children to know the answers at sight. These 
are usually the hardest for pupils to learn, and should be 
written in a number of places among the easy ones. 

Cut up an old calender, and taking the first twelve 
figures for each month, paste them on stiff paper and 
keep them in a box near at hand. If the lesson is on the 
sixth line of multiplication, hold up the figure "2" and 
let the first pupil give the answer "12." If a "5" is 
held up the next one will answer "30," or if a "9" the 
answer will be "54," etc. This makes a nice game for 
Friday. If the class is small, give to each child the card 
answered by him or her, and the one who holds the most 
at the end wins the game. 




I. 5 

Draw this figure placing a 6, a 7, or a 9 in the center. 
Point to outside numbeis one at a time, skipping about, 

71 



and letting the child multiply by center number. If one 
misses play that he is in prison, put his name in a certain 
place. When another child misses he goes to prison and 
the first is free to join the class again. 

Children should know how to count by fives and tens; 
should be taught that 32 and 10 are 42, 10 more make 52, 
then G2, 72, etc. If you add 10 to 25 it makes 35, and 
10 more will be 45. Second grade pupils may count by 
two's, by three's, four's and other numbers to a hundred 
or some number near it, as ninety-six. 

In making examples, put in an occasional question 
mark as: 12-^-?=4, or 12 — ?=7. The question mark 
may come first as ?-^12=2. 

Compel attention by your enthusiasm as well as by 
your method. If possible call on every pupil in the class 
during recitation, and put questions and examples in 
every form you can. Make children think quickly, and 
don't always ask questions around the class in regular 
order, but keep each pupil in a state of expectancy. Don't 
let them know whom you will call on next, but seek to 
have each one pay attention and be ready with an answer. 




72 



CHAPTERlVni. 

LANGUAGE. 

As soon as the children learn to form their letters suffi- 
ciently well to write a sentence, they may begin the study 
of Language. The first lessons should be simple and 
very short, not more than three or four hnes, and should 
be about some famiUar object. If the school is in the 
country, and the teacher has more classes than she can 
do justice to, and thinks she has no time for Language, 
she should make time for it, for nothing in school work 
is more important. "What can be of more worth to 
the individual in after hfe than the power to express 
his thoughts, orally, or in writing, in pure, forcible Eng- 
lish?" It should be taught every day, and when this 
cannot be done, at least once a week. The reading or 
number work may be omitted at least one day in five, if 
there is no other time. 



FIRST YEAR. 

Take an object in the school-room for your first lesson. 
Perhaps it is a ball. Show it to the children and draw 
one on the board where all can see. 

Let them talk about it and make sentences. Choose 
some of their sentences to write : 

The ball is round. 

It is made of rubber. 

We play with it. 

73 



Tell the children that a sentence must begin with a 
capital letter and end with a period. Let them copy 
from the board what has been written, and be sure that 
youi part of the work is done carefully, as it is to serve 
as a model for them. Make your letters large and plain. 

The pupils thould have composition books or tablets 
which should be taken up each day and distributed again 
when needed. These should be kept for the Language, 
work only, and each should be neatly labeled with the 
owner's name. 




The next lesson could be about an apple. 
Ask about the size, color, uses, shape. What is meant 
by the pulp? Core? Stem end? Blossom-end? How do 
apples grow? What color are the seed? Which way do 
the seed point, to the blossom-end or stem-end? How 
many seed-cells are there? (Five.) How many petals 
does an apple-blossom have? (Five.) Name some differ- 
ent kinds of apples. The lesson may serve: 1st, to teach 
sentences; 2nd, to give information; 3rd, to encourage 
observation. The sentences may read: 

The apple is red 

It is good to eat 

It grew on a tree 

74 



Other objects will suggest themselves; as the clock, 
the bell, the water-bucket, an orange, a lemon. It is not 
necessary to draw the object every time, but when the 
outline is simple the children enjoy this branch of the 
work, particularly if they are allowed to color the apple 




red, and the lemon yellow, and other objects as nearly' 
like nature as possible. 

On rainy days have the children to write about rain, and 
on snowy days about snow. Suit the lesson to the season, 
and do not talk of cherry blossoms in the winter, or of 
nuts in the spring. 

As the first grade children advance and learn to spell 
new words they may be taught to write lessons without 
the teacher's aid. Impress on them that sentences and 
proper names must always begin with capital letters, and 
that every sentence must end with a period, unless it asks 
a question, in which case show them how to make the 
question mark. The exclamation point is too hard for 
them during the first year, so don't confuse them with 
its meaning. See that they learn thoroughly the use of 
period, question mark and capital letters. 

Plan your work beforehand In a book put down on 
Saturday what you wnrit the little ones to write about 

75 



each day of the week following. Do not wait until the 
last minute and then think: "What shall I give them to 
write about today?" Save yourself that worry by plan- 
ning your work out. even if you do not always follow 
your plan. 

Ajlittle verse may be copied from the First Reader 
occasionally, for a Language lesson. After the children 
have written and talked about the objects in the school- 
room, take those seen through the window, a tree, a leaf, 
the sky, etc. By making the lessons simple, some of the 
topics which you have prepared for the higher grades 
may be used. Draw on the board for a lesson a can 
labelled "milk;" a tumbler; an egg; or a box. Hundreds 
of things will suggest themselves to your mind if you 
give the subject of Language a little time and study. 
Make the lessons short, keep the children interested, and 
require them to do neat, careful work, to dot the i's and 
cross the t's, and to join their letters together properly. 
Some children have trouble with such words as "would;" 
they want to make "w" by itself instead of joining it to 
the letters which follow; they write it thus: "w ould." 
Do not let a child fall into bad habits in writing, but 
teach him to do things in the right way first, so that he 
will have nothing to "unlearn." 

If no careless writing is received, no untidy work allowed, 
correct form insisted upon from the first, habits of neat- 
ness, accuracy, and of proper arrangement of words and 
sentences will daily grow stronger. 



SECOND YEAR. 



Some children in the second grade are capable of taking 
their books, (such as Long's Language Lessons, Part I), 

76 



and writing the lessons at their seats without help or 
Lggestionlom the teacher. Of course they will make 
Wilkes, but they will know how to work alone Others^ 
however, would have no idea how to beg n ^^^f^^ 
themseh^es. Each lesson must be fully explamed before 
tSri write H. It all depends on the class and c,n t^he 
training the pup.ls have had. Perhaps there are chMrer^ 
who can read w4ll m the Second Reader, write legibly, and 
have a fair start in Arithmetic, who have had absolutely 
ir nstruction in forming sentences. This is often true 
of children who attend country schools, because one teacher 
has so many lessons to hear, there seems to be no time for 

^^T^ke the class as you find it, and ghe the children work 
suited to their needs. If they have had no previous 
training, teach them as you would first-grade pupils^ if 
hey can do harder work, let them do it. Remember, 
though, that it is better for the lessons to be too easy than 
too hard; remember, also, that children cannot writ« unle s 
Ly ha;e something to write about. Their thoughts 
must be trained before they can express them on paper^ 
If you say to a child, "Write a composition, and do not 
tell him anything else, or furnish him with any ideas, if 
he has never written one before, he will feel that you have 
given him an impossible task; but if you talk about a 
Subject, ask questions, and allow the children to talk and 
oet their minds full of thoughts, they will be eager to write 
what they know. Instead of looking forward to the 
Language lessons with dread they will think of them with 

pleasure. . . . ^ • t ^^ 

While the thought is the main thing auned at m Lan- 
guage work, attention should be paid also to the appear- 
ance of the page and the formation of the letters. Show 



77 



the pupils how to leave a small margin to the left, and 
encourage neatness and carefulness in writing. Teach 
them how to copy poetry so it will not resemble prose; 
how to begin and end a letter; and how to use quotation 
marks. The names of the days, with their abbreviations, 
come properly in the second year's work,- as do also the 
names of the months and seasons. 

There is much variety in Language work. There are 
information lessons, verses to be copied, letters, dictation 
and reproduction lessons. The children may write about 
pictures; give each a separate picture or have a lesson 
from a large one for the whole class. Words may be 
placed on the board in irregular order and the children 
allowed to place them properly in sentences in their 
tablets : 

over, hill, Tom, the, went. 

of, March, is. This, month, the. 

Teach the difference betvv'Cen "to," "too" and "two;" 
between "here" and "hear;" and "there" and "their." 

Have an occasional lesson of this kind: write a sentence 
incorrectly on the board, as — 

1 see a apple? 

and allow the children to correct the mistakes. Let one 
child rub out something w^hich he sees wTong and make 
it right, another child something else until the sentence 
is as it should be : 

I see an apple. 

There may be teachers who find it convenient to have 
the second grade children write their lessons at the same 
time the more advanced ones do. In this case the same 
subject may be simplified for the younger ones. Let us 

78 



suppose they are to write about "cotton." Tell them 
all you know about it, ask questions and let it be dis- 
cussed. On the blackboard put questions of this kind 
for the second year children : 

What color is cotton ? 

Where does it grow? 

How is it gathered? 

Did you ever see a cotton bale? 

Name some things made of cotton. 

On other boards place the outlines for higher grades. 

In all your Language work, particularly that based on 
nature study, let the children draw on the page the object 
which they write about, if possible. Pictures of useful 
plants, as coffee and tea, may be found in the geogra- 
phies. Models for fruits are easily secured. If the subject 
is "iron" a horse-shoe or something made of the metal 
may be drawn. If they wTite about "salt," draw^ for them 
on the board a bag labelled "salt." 

Teach during the second year the various uses of capital 
letters : 

1. Every line of poetry should begin with a capital 

letter. 

2. Most abbreviations must begin with capital letters. 

3. Every sentence must begin with a capital letter. 

4. Proper names, of people, places, days, and months 
should begin with capital letters. 

5. The pronoun "I" must always be a capital letter. 

6. Quotations (direct) must begin with capital letters. 

Teach also some uses of the comma, w^hat the exclama- 
tion point is for, and other simple rules of which you may 
think. If you have a text-book do not think you have 
to follow it closely, but use your own judgment and be 
original. 

79 



THIRD, FOURTH AND FIFTH YEARS. 

- If children have been well taught they should, by the 
time they reach the third year, know how to do very good 
work. They probably have text-books and can, with or 
without help, follow the plan there laid down. Again 
the teacher may be supplied with language charts which 
furnish a series of helpful lessons. No definite plan of 
conducting a recitation in language can be laid down by 
any one teacher. There must be, however, some system 
and sequence of thought. One lesson must lead to another 
and all must form a harmonious and connected whole. In 
teaching the verb-form, plurals, abbreviations, contrac- 
tions, and marks of pvmctuation there must be method. 
The hardest things should not be taught first nor the 
easiest ones last. 

___The books or tablets should be distributed at a regular 
time and taken up by the teacher or by a monitor appointed 
for the purpose. They may be corrected daily in the 
class, or may be taken home each Friday by the teacher 
and there corrected ready to be returned the following 
Monday. The best compositions may be neatly copied 
into other books, or on sheets of paper. If the latter, they 
can be pinned on the wall as a reward for good work, or 
kept for exhibition days. The time and manner of dis- 
tributing and taking up books, and of correcting them, 
must be determined by each teacher. What suits in one 
school may not be convenient in another. 

Have children to write letters frequently, for it is 
practical training. Some teachers use this as a means of 
keeping in touch with the minds and motives of pupils, 
and thus of controlling them. A letter once a week or 
once a month from every boy and girl in your room, w411 
go far toward helping you to know them better. In 

80 



teaching letter writing, tell children not to say, "I thought 
I would write you a letter," and to avoid beginning with 
the pronoun "I" but to try to express their thoughts in 
other w^ays. 

In compositions do not allow them to write, "There are 
many kinds of flowers," or "There are many kinds of 
birds," etc. Never accept torn or ragged papers, but 
teach that "Whatever is w^orth doing is worth doing 
well." Teach the proper use of "a" and "an," of "our" 
and "hour." The Geography lesson may be used for 
language. Have children to write letters dating them 
at London, Paris, or Rome, and describing those cities. 
Have them to describe what they saw on the way to 
school; a visit to a blacksmith shop or to a factory. Use 
proverbs, fables, poems, or stories as the groundwork of 
lessons in Language. Let children write about their 
games; teach them how to write initials; and make use 
of current events. 

Have conversation lessons to correct faults in speak- 
ing. Keep a record of mistakes made by children and 
use the words or phrases correctly in the conversation 
class. Discourage all wTong pronunciations as "git," 
"goin'," "ain't," and "singin'." By example and precept 
teach the use of clear, forcible English. 



SUGGESTIVE OUTLINES. 
September. First month of autumn. Days and nights 
equal at the time of the eqinox. Thirty days in the 
month. "September" means "seventh month." Many 
flowers in bloom. Birds and insects. . 

Review rules for capital letters, period, question mark, 
exclamation point, the names of the days of the wxek, 
names of months, etc. 

81 



On September 4, 1824, Phoebe Gary was born in Ohio 
in a low unpainted farm-house. Family poor. Phoebe 
jolly, bright-eyed, dark-haired little girl, who loved to 
romp. She loved the flowers, birds and trees. Nine 
children in the family. Merry times in the barn playing 
hide and seek. Phoebe loved to read. Only twelve 
books in the family. Phoebe and her sister Alice walked 
to school. At night studied by a light made with a rag 
wick in a saucer of lard. At the age of fourteen sent 
verses to Boston paper. They were published. Sisters 
afterwards became famous. Whittier wrote to Phoebe. 
Horace Greeley visited her. With Alice she lived in New 
York, Boston and Amesbury. Settled in New York. 
Visited by distinguished people. Wrote the hymn "Nearer 
Home." 

Eugene Field. Born in September, 1850, at St. Louis. 
His mother died when he was six years old. He went 
to live at Amherst, Mass., where his cousin took care of 
him. A happy, loving boy, fond of pets. Had a talent 
for drawing. His first poem of merit written when he 
was thirty. W^rote "Little Boy Blue." Died 1895. 

James Fenimore Cooper. Born in September, 1789, at 
Burlington, New Jersey. Early life spent on the shores 
of Lake Otsego, New York. Country at that time was 
a wilderness. James famihar with Indians and hunters. 
His father a judge and man of culture. James went to 
Yale College. Entered the navy and remained there six 
years. Wrote many novels about Indian life, "The Pilot," 
"The Pioneer," etc. 

Nature Study. 'Corn. Planted last spring. Grains 
red and yellow. Called Indian corn or maize. Shucks 
used for mattresses. Corn ground into meal. Various 

82 



uses of corn. Selection from "Hiawatha" about the corn 
fields. 

Flowers. What flowers are blooming now? What 
colors do we see most often in autumn flowers? (yellow 
and purple.) What flowers are fragrant? Uses of flowers. 
Poems about the dandelion. 

Study of Nasturtium. (Supply each child with one.) 
Parts: calyx or cup, petals or flower leaves; stamens 
or powder-boxes, seed-case at bottom of pistil. How 
many divisions has the calyx? One part is like a horn or 
spur and is filled with nectar. How many petals? (Five.) 
Which have fringe? W^hich have dark lines so show 
the bee the way dow^n to the nectar? 

Insects. Fly. Has no teeth. Sucks its food. Breath 
through holes in sides. Keeps itself clean. Feet and 
legs covered with fine hair which serve as brushes. Eight 
thousand eyes; four thousand on each side. Six legs. 

Ants. Several hundred kinds. Some very strong; can 
carry oft' things ten times as heavy as themselves. Ant 
hills in South America three times as high as a man. Store 
food for the winter. In warm countries larger than bumble 
bees. Many together kill birds and small animals. Make 
war on other tribes and capture eggs and coccons. Carry 
these to their colonies, hatch them and make slaves of the 
ants from them. Carpenter ants bore into trees. Large 
Texas ants tunnel long distances under the ground. 

October. Questions for class. 
What month is this? 
What season is it? 
What will the leaves do soon? 
W^iat work do they do for the tree ? (They breathe 

for it.) 

• 

83 



Of what use are the leaves after they fall? (Make 

the ground rich.) 
What trees keep their leaves all winter? 
Where are the birds now? 
What are the squirrels busy doing? 
What becomes of the flowers? 
Teach verb forms "is" and "are;" "was" and "were;" 
"teach" and "learn." 

Adjectives. pretty 
fragrant 
yellow 
purple 

Outlines for Stories. 1. Three children go nut- 
ting. What they take with them. What they bring 
back. How they go and where. What they see on the 
way. 

2. Tw^o boys gathering persimmons. Who told them 
that they might? How far did they go? What did they 
find when they reached the tree? What had happened 
at home while they were gone? 

3. Surprise party. Lame boy at home. Nutting party 
for him. How his friends had it in his room and why. 



pointed 


mellow 


prickly 


ripe 


glossy 


stiff 


useful 


hollow 



SUBJECTS TO WRITE ABOUT. 1 

Nuts. Varieties, uses, how gathered. 

Frost. Ripens nuts, colors the leaves, kills fever germs, 
kills flowers. 

Halloween Customs. Bobbing for apples, roasting chest- 
nuts, trying fortunes, playing games, etc. 

Leaves. Colors, shapes, sizes, uses. 

* 

84 



Tea Leaves. Come from shrub or small tree. Bright 
glossy and green. First crop each year the best. 
Dried first in the sun, then over a fire. Men, 
women and children roll and twist the leaves for 
selling. Sorted and packed in chests. Story of 
"Boston Tea Party." 
Trees. Trunk, limbs, leaves, roots, etc. Nut trees — 
hickory, walnut, chestnut. Big trees of Cali- 
fornia. Evergreens. 
Helen Hunt Jackson was born October 18, 1831. When 
a child loved to play out of doors. Born at Amherst, 
Mass. Married an army officer who soon died. Later 
married Jackson and lived in Colorado. Wrote prose and 
verse Wrote^stories of children. Much interested in the 
Indians. Died in California. 

October 12, 1492, Columbus landed. 
October 19, LaFayette Day. 

November. Everything preparing for the winter. 
Animals have thicker coats of fur. Birds go south. Some 
insects and animals die. Others go into winter quarters. 
Our own preparation for winter, clothing, fuel, food. Days 
shorter. Weather rainy or cloudy. 

Teach use of apostrophe in contractions, as "I've," "I'm" 
and "I'll;" also in possessives, as "Ruth's hat." 

Teach use of hyphen. When a word is divided at the 
end of a Hne, that part of the word which remains on the 
Hne must be followed by a hyphen. The division must 
always be made between two syllables. 
Teach plurals of these words : 

child ox house 

woman goose boy 

man sheep girl 

tooth horse bench 

85 



Teach the meaning of these : 

A. M. (Ante Meridiem), before noon. 

P. M. (Post Meridiem), after noon. 

Doz. Dozen. 

Rev. Reverend. 

Gen. General. 

P. S. Postscript. 

P. O. Postoffice. 
William Cullen Bryant. Born Nov. 3, 1794, at 
Cummington, Mass. Named for a famous doctor in 
Scotland. Delicate as a child. He was dipped in a cold 
spring every morning to make him healthy. His father 
was a doctor. His mother industrious, hard working and 
good. Bryant grew stronger. Loved nature. Studied 
botany with his father. Author of "Thanatopsis." 

Nature Study. Acorns. Different kinds: large, small, 
long, short. Food for squirrels, bears and pigs. Acorns 
ripen in autumn. Frost makes them fall. Those not 
eaten by animals are kept warm by the leaves till spring 
comes. Tiny roots then go down into the ground and 
green leaves shoot upward. No longer acorns. "Tall oaks 
from little acorns grow." Oak trees grow very slowly, but 
are strong and beautiful. 

Oak Trees. Varieties: white, black, red, post, chestnut, 
burr, live oak. Many besides these. Different kinds in 
different localities. Leaves, bark and acorns different. 
Oak trees keep their leaves longest. Articles of furniture 
made of oak, for bed rooms, school rooms and parlors. 
Other uses of oak lumber. "The old oaken bucket." 

Squirrels. Most common kind gray. Belong to the 
gnawing family. Store nuts in hollow trees or bury them 
in the ground. Often trees come up from the walnuts 
and acorns which they plant. Easy to tame. Make nice 

86 



pets. Seldom bite people. Tail bushy and large, curls 
over back. Sit on hind legs when eating. 
Subjects for Compositions. 
A Thanksgiving Story. 

Gnawing Animals — rats, mice, squirrels, etc. 
Story of Bunny. 
When the Woods Turn Brown. 
A Fall Day. 
An Autumn Picture. 
Fuel — wood, coal, gas. 
Thanksgiving. 

"In November the harvest is gathered; 
Thanksgiving brings praise and good cheer; 
We thank our Lord God for the blessings 
He sends us all through the year." 
Thanksgiving was formerly appointed by the Governor 
of each State. The Jews had such a feast (Pentecost), 
and, in their reaping, left a portion for the poor to gather. 
Plymouth settlers gave thanksgiving for a rain. In 1632, 
in Boston, a day was appointed for fasting and prayer. 
Thanksgiving day now appointed by the President. A 
happy time for many, but lonely for those away from 
home. Much charity work then by relief societies, Y. M. 
C. A., and other associations. Food and clothing given 
to the needy. Hundreds of poor people invited to good 
dinners. 

December. Days short. Weather cold. Trees bare. 
All flowers gone. A few birds left. Ice and snow during 
part of the month. Preparations for Christmas. 
"And last comes dear December 
When we hail the Savior's birth ; 
A time to all most joyous, 
With peace and good will on earth." 

87 



"Feathery flakes are falling, falling, 
From the skies in softest way; 
And between are voices calling, 
Soon it will be Christmas Day." 

Teach these verb forms: 

give gave given 

hang hung hung 

shine shone shone 

freeze froze frozen 

List of Adjectives: 

glad lovely sparkHng 

joyous beautiful thoughtful 

happy merry sweet 

kind good poor 

"Why do bells for Christmas ring? 
Why do little children sing? 
Once a lovely shining star 
vSeen by wise men from afar, 
Gently moved, until its light 
Made a manger's cradle bright. 

"There a darling baby lay. 
Pillowed soft upon the hay. 
And his mother sang and smiled : 
'This is Christ, the holy child.' 
So the bells for Christmas ring, 
So the little children sing." 

Christmas stories may be read and reproduced and 
Christmas poems copied by the children. 

Christmas in Norway. Two weeks before, prepara- 
tions begin. House cleaned, evergreens scattered on the 

88 



floors, wreaths fastened to the walls. In the halls small 
trees are placed with candles on them. Old China Vjrought 
out. Women cook and bake. Fathers hunt deer. A 
sheep is killed and made into sausage. On Christmas 
eve all gather about the father who holds prayers. Then 
little ones light candles. After a simple meal all go to 
church. The little ones carry torches to light the way. 
All carry bundles of good things to be distributed to the 
poor. Cows and horses have twice as much food given 
them as at other timies. Great bundles of grain are tied 
to the fences and houses, for the birds. During the year 
they lay aside pennies for the Vjirds' Christmas dinner. On 
Christmas morning the children play pranks on each other. 
For dinner there are potatoes, onions, fish, sausage, sweet- 
cakes and cookies. In the center of the table, a cake 
of butter weighing thirty or forty pounds. Games, 
Christmas tree. Bed-time at ten. — Journal oj Education, 
March, 1898. 

Christmas in Germany. Pine tree used for a Christmas 
tree. In the top a dove or an image or the Christ-child. 
Many candles on the tree. Little angels are fastened to 
the branches. Gifts for everybod}^ old and young. 

Christmas in Russia. Greeting is "God with us,' 
instead of "Merry Christmas." Instead of Santa Claus 
Baboushka, an old woman, comes down the chimmeys 
She comes with the presents on the Epiphany. This is 
twelve days after Christmas, sixth day of January. Games 
mostly singing games. All sing the "Slava" song. "Slava 
means "Hallelujah." 

In America thousands of young spiuce trees shipped 
from Maine every yeai to be used for Christmas trees. 
Maine is the Christmas tree State 

89 



Questions. When does Christmas come? Whose 
birthday is it? Where was Christ born? What does 
B. C. mean? What does A. D. mean? Is Christmas kept 
in all countries? Why? What are people busy doing 
now? Why do they do these things? Is it a time to 
think of yourself? How can you make some one else 
happy? 

Make a story using these words : 

Girls, boys, sleigh, pretty, good, bells, yellow, red, 
jolly, presents, ten, mamma, papa, sang, time. 
Write a story about a little girl and what she did to 
make some one happy. What was her name? Where 
did she live? 

John Greenleaf Whittier. Born December 17, 1807, 
at Haverhill, Mass. Born in the same year as Longfellow. 
Lived on a farm. Woods, an old well and a branch near 
by. First school in a farm house. Afterwards went to 
a little brown schoolhouse. Wrote poems when a child. 
First published poem when he was nineteen. Wrote 
"Snow Bound." 

Pilgrims. Came from Scrooby, a small town in Eng- 
land. Lived twelve years in Holland. Started to America 
in 1620 in two ships, Speedwell and Mayflower. Speedwell 
leaked and was taken back. Mayflower landed first at 
Cape Cod, Mass. Capt. Miles Standish and sixteen went 
ashore to find suitable place to settle. 

On December 21st found a safe harbor at Plymouth. 
During first year one-half of the people died. No Indians 
near till next spring. 

Subjects. Pilgrims. Former homes. Purpose in com- 
ing to America. Voyage. Landing. Life in This 
Country. 

90 



Ships Famous in History. Susan Constant, Half Moon, 
Mayflower. Ships of Columbus: Nina, Pinta, Santa 
Maria. 

Courtship of Miles Standish. Longfellow. 

Pilgrim Homes. How built and how furnished. Kettles 
hung in open fire-place, women spun and wove all 
the cloth. 

Holly and Mistletoe. Mistletoe, the sacred plant of the 
Druids. Grew on oaks, their sacred trees. They 
cut it with golden sickles. They were clad in w^hite 
garments when they gathered it. Modern uses of 
Mistletoe. Parasites. 

January. A new page in the book of life given to us. 
A new year starts. Month of good resolutions. Named 
for a heathen god, Janus. The Saxons called it the wolf 
month because the wolves were ravenous then. How 
many days in the month? 

Teach difference betweew^ these : 



Adjectives. 



cold 
warm 
tough 
brittle 



sit and 


set 


lie 


lay 


this 


that 


these 


those 


in 


into 


up 


upon 


who 


which 


clear 


hard 


dim 


soft 


smooth 


wide 


rough 


narrow 



91 



Dates. 

Jan. 1, 1735, Paul Revere was born. 
Jan. 2, 1863, Battle of Murfreesboro. 
Jan. 8, 1815, Battle of New Orleans. 
Jan. 11, 1746, John H. Pestalozzi was born. 
Jan. 17, 1706, Benjamin Franklin was born. 

Benjamin Franklin. Born in Boston. Learned to 
read when young. Only two years at school. His father 
made soap and tallow candles. Benjamin, one of seven- 
teen children. Apprenticed to his brother, James, who 
was a printer. Wrote poetry. Denied himself meat that 
he might take the money and buy books. Went to 
Philadelphia at the age of seventeen and worked for a 
printer. Went to London. London printers drank beer 
and called Frankhn the "Water American," because he 
did not. Worked early and late. Read and studied 
much. Came back to Philadelphia. Started a printing 
press of his own. Published newspaper; also "Poor 
Richard's Almanac." Started first pubUc library in 
America. Discovered that electricity and lightning were 
the same. Invented the lightning rod. Called "the great 
Doctor Franklin." Many towns are named for him. 

Subjects: Snow: appearance, depth, uses, drifts, bliz- 
zards, avalanches. 

Story about being lost in the snow. 

The Alps: The Matterhorn, Mt. Blanc. 

St. Bernard Dogs: How they rescue people who are 
buried in the snow. 

Ice: Uses, appearance, etc. Glaciers, icebergs, icicles, 
lake ice, manufactured ice, ice cutting in Maine. 

Animals of Cold Countries: Walrus, polar bears, dogs, 
reindeer. 

92 



Walrus. Killed with a harpoon which is very sharp. 
Thick skin. One of the largest animals in the world. 
Some of them weigh 3,000 pounds. Largest ones ten 
feet long. Stay on huge blocks of ice. Have to be killed 
quickly, or they will dive and upset the boats. Dangerous 
sport Two long tusks. 

Esquimaux. Huts made of blocks of ice covered with 
snow. Narrow platform of ice around the inside covered 
with skins. Round hole for a door, and long, narrow 
passage leading into hut. Food: bears, seals, fish, sea- 
birds. Most meat is eaten raw, or slightly cooked in a 
kettle hung from the roof. Under the kettle is a bone 
dish filled with oil. Wick made of moss in center. Socks 
made of bird skins, jacket of seal skin and trousers of bear 
skin. Hitch dogs to sledges. 

Cold Countries. Alaska: Yukon River, Sitka, Klon- 
dike, climate, people. Greenland: ice sheet, poppies, eider 
ducks, Norse settlers, Eric the Red. Siberia: Exiles, 
names and customs. Russia: Czar, St. Petersburg, 
steppes. 

February. The shortest month. The last month of 
winter. The second month of the year. The month for 
valentines. Many great people born in February. 

Teach the correct use of ''doesnt" and '"doitt." It is 
correct to say, "It don't make any difference?" "Doesn't" 
means "does not." "Don't" means "do not." 

Teach the difference between "each" and "all." Review 
the words : 

here and hear 

their " there 

too " two 

pear " pair 

93 



Verb forms. 

have 
know 
speak 
see 

Noted birthdays. 



has 
knows 
speaks 
sees 



had 
knew 
spoke 
saw 



had 
known 
spoken 
seen 



Feb. 
Feb. 
Feb. 
Feb. 
Feb. 
Feb. 



7, 1812, Charles Dickens. 
11, 1847, Thomas Edison. 

1809, Abraham Lincoln. 

1732, George Washington. 

1819, James Russell Lowell. 

1807, Henry W. Longfellow. 

Dickens. Born at Portsmouth, England. His father 
a clerk in the Navy Pay Office. Moved to Chatham. 
Delicate boy. Loved to read. Merry and bright. Fond 
of singing. At nine years of age moved to London. 
Father unfortunate. Became very poor. Charles worked 
in a blacking factory. His father was sent to the debtor's 
prison. Charles, often weak and sick, worked on and 
studied during spare moments. At one time Charles was 
clerk' in a lawyer's office, at another time reporter, and 
later wrote for a magazine. Pickwick Papers made him 
famous. 

Topics. England, London, Westminster Abbey. The 
Tower, Queen Victoria. 

Edison. When a child liked to read articles describing 
inventions. Fond of trying experiments. Sold newspapers 
on the train. With the money made bought books. In- 
dustrious and persevering. Telephones. Electric cars. 
Electric lights. 

Topics. Morse and the telegraph. 

Eli Whitney and the cotton -gin. 



94 



Robert Fulton and the steamboat. 
Elias Howe and the sewing machine. 

Lincoln. Born in a log cabin in Kentucky. When 
seven years old father moved to Indiana. Lived a frontier 
life. Learned to read and write, and spent his spare time 
studying. Only five or six books, which he read over 
and over.* His favorites were ^sop's Fables and Pilgrim's 
Progress. Hated to see any one cruel to animals. Kmd 
hearted, industrious, hard working. Moved to Illinois. 
Had charge of a flat boat on the Ohio. Kept a store and 
failed. Afterwards paid every cent of his debts. Post- 
master, surveyor, member of the Legislature, lawyer 
Walked eight miles once to borrow a grammar. 

Topics. Frontier Life. Daniel Boone. Watauga, John 
Sevier, Spencer, James Robertson, Trappers. 

Washington. Born at Wakefield, Albemarle county, Va. 
Father named Augustine. Brother named Lawrence. His 
mother took much pains to implant good principles and 
manly ideas in her son. Very painstaking and careful. 
Wrote many "Rules for Behavior." One of these was, 
"Do not speak while others are speaking." Beautiful 
home on the Potomac called Mt. Vernon. He is buried 
there, and the key of his tomb is in the river. 

Topics. 

Our Flag: How many stripes? What do they rep- 
resent? How many stars now? Who made the 
first flag? (Mrs. Betsy Ross in Philadelphia.) 
Ths French and Indian War. 
The Revolution. 

Our Country: Growth, population, number of States, 
army, navy, productions, occupations. 

95 



Lowell Youngest of five children. Lived at Cam- 
bridge, Mass. Father a preacher. Mother told him beau- 
tiful stories. Loved nature. Entered Harvard College at 
fifteen. Lived at Elmwood. Always kind hearted. Mar- 
ried a lovely woman who made him very happy. His 
first child was named Blanche and lived only a year. He 
wrote a beautiful poem about her called "The First Snow- 
fall." 

Longfellow. Born at Portland, Maine. Blue-eyed, 
brown-haired when a child. Kind and affectionate. Loved 
neatness and order. Wanted to do right and tell the 
truth. Industrious and tried to do well whatever he 
undertook. He was not cruel. Once he shot a bird 
and came home with tears in his eyes and never killed 
another. When he was grown he always loved children 
and was kind to them. He wrote The Village Blacksmith. 
The children of Cambridge gave him an arm chair made 
of the spreading chestnut tree that stood in front of the 
blacksmith's shop. He wrote a poem about it called 
"From My Arm Chair." 

Topics. Story of Evangeline. 

Hiawatha's Childhood. 
Hiawatha's Sailing. 
Indian Customs. 
Longfellow's Friends. 
Harvard College. 
City of Cambridge. 

St. Valentine. A good old bishop, full of kindness and 
love for his fellow beings. Every one loved him. Kind 
to the poor, the sick, the needy. Children were fond of 
him. He believed in God while many arotmd him wor- 
shiped images. They put him in prison because of his 

9H 



religion. Afterwards they came to believe in God too, and 
were so sorry for what they had done that they set aside 
February 14th as his birthday. They sent messages 
of love to each other, such as he had been used to send to 
them. 

March. The windy month. The first flowers bloom. 
Ice begins to melt and spring freshets occur. Mother 
Nature has a spring cleaning. She is getting ready for 
her family. The birds will come flying back soon, the 
flowers will peep up out of the ground, and the trees will 
put on green dresses. 

"March winds and April showers 
Bring forth May flowers." 

'/I'm merry breezy little March, 
Dear children, gathered here; 
I hope you are all glad to greet 
The third month of the year." 

"A jolly young fellow is Mr. March Wind 
With all his bluster and noise." 

Adjectives. High, low, wet, dry, early, late, red, green. 
Verbs. Blow, whirl, scatter, dance, play, bring, bloom, 
fly, come, toss, sing, rush, swell, watch. 
Difference between: 

blue and blew 

sail " sale 

write " right 

Topics. Wind— good things about it: Helps ships to 
sail, scatters seed, helps birds to fly, turns wind- 
mills, purifies the air, flies kites, brings rain, dries 
clothes, sweeps Mother Nature's house for her. 

97 



Bad things it does: Wrecks ships, tears down 
houses, uproots trees, causes cyclones, tornadoes 
and sand storms, destroys villages. 

"In spring when stirs the wind, I know 
That soon the crocus buds will show; 
For 'tis the wind who bids them wake. 
And into pretty blossoms break." 

Flowers. Crocus, violet, jonquil, peach blossom. 

Daffodil, often called buttercup. Belongs to the same 
family with the jonquil and narcissus. 

" Daff ydowndilly 
Came up in the cold, 
Through the brown mould, 
Although the March breezes 
Blew keen in her face, 
Although the white snow 
Lay on many a place." — Miss Warner. 

Seeds. When does the farmer plant thern? What must 
be done to the ground first? Do farmers plant 
the same things in the same place every year? 
(No, because the food needed for one variety of 
plant is used up and crops must be changed.) 

Cotton seed planted in March or April. Seed first 
brought to Georgia from Bahama Islands. Seeds used 
for making cotton seed oil, cottolene and medicine. Plants 
grow rapidly. 

What vegetables seed are planted now? What flower 
seed? 

Kites. How to make them and how to fly them. (Cam- 
eras are sent up by kites and photographs taken 
of army troops.) 

98 



Windmills. What country is full of them and why' 
(Holland; they keep the land drained by pumping 
up the water.) 

Water. Mills, boats, ships, springs, rivers, ocean, lakes. 

Buds. What trees are budding? How many kinds of 
buds have you seen? 

April. How many days has April? What flowers are 
blooming? What trees have budded? What birds have 
you seen? 

This is the month of sunshine and rain. 
It is sometimes called the month of smiles and tears. 
The Indians call it the month of starry nights. 
People are still planting seed. 

"Isn't it wonderful, wdien you think 
How a little seed asleep, 
Out of the earth new life will drink, 
And carefully upw^ard creep? 
A seed, we say, is a simple thing. 
The germ of a flow^er or weed, 
But all of earth's workmen, laboring, 
With all the help that w'ealth cmild bring 
Never could make a seed." 

"Kind and loving thoughts 
Are the tiny seeds; 
From each, bud and blossom 
Kind and loving deeds. 

"Plant a loving thought 

* In all that you may do 
And that seed will blossom 
Into love for you." ^ . 

99 



"Plant lilies, and lilies will bloom; 
Plant roses, and roses will grow; 
Plant hate, and hate to life will spring; 
Plant love, and love to you will bring 
The fruit of the seed you sow." 

Review the rules for punctuation. 

Adjectives. Bright, brilliant, show3^ brave, honest, 
polite, chivalrous. 

Review verb forms. Is, are, w^as, w^ere, has, have, see, 
saw, seen, know, knew, known. 

Nature Study. Earth. Size, people, land and water, 
divisions of each. Hot inside, (volcanoes, earthquakes, 
geysers, hot springs.) Everything comes from the earth. 
Rock inside, soil outside. Kinds of soil, clay, sand, gravel, 
loam. 

Air. Composed of oxygen and nitrogen. Oxygen 
gives us life. Compare air in city and country. Air on 
mountains, in wells, in mines, in a crowded room. Black 
Hole of Calcutta. 

Birds. Description, color, size, name, habits; size and 
number of eggs. Nest building, material used. (Sticks, 
straw, thread, leaves, mud, hair, wool, strings, etc.) The 
tailor bird sews leaves together for a nest. The garden 
bird makes a nest on the ground and decorates the yard. 
The woodpecker bores a hole in wood or builds in a hollow 
tree. Suitable poems for study: "The Emperor's Bird's 
Nest" and "The Birds of Killingsworth,.' by Longfellow; 
"The Little Sandpiper," by Celia Thaxter. 

The eggs of the woodpecker are 

The eggs of the robin are 

Owls build 

100 



The cow-bird steals 

The red bird 

Swallows build 

The jaybird is 

The Russian novelist, Turgenieff, when a boy of ten 
went hunting with his father, and was much impressed 
when a bird, which had been shot, fluttered to her nest, 
and, spreading her wings, died protecting her brood. 
His father praised him for his skill, but he answered: 
"Never again will I destroy any living creature. If this 
is sport I will have none of it. Life is more beautiful to 
me than death, and since I can not give life I will not 
take it." 

Rain. Where does it come from and where does it go? 
What is frozen rain? Describe a raindrop's journey. 

Sunshine. What does it do for the flowers, vegetables, 
trees, etc? Could we do without it? 

Washington Irving. Born April 3, 1783. Named 
for George Washington. Lived in New York. Engaged 
to Matilda Hoffman who died. Remained an old bachelor. 
Lived abroad for some time. First American author 
recognized by Europeans. Moved to Sunnyside, an old 
Dutch mansion on the Hudson River. Wrote "The 
Sketch Book," "Alhambra," "Mahomet," and "Life of 
Washington." 

Paul Revere' s Ride, April 18, 1775. 
Mother's Day, April 20. 
Friedrich Froehel, born April 21, 1782. 
Alice Gary, born April 26, 1820. 

101 



"Children who read my lay, 
This much I have to say: 
Each day and every day 

Do what is right! 
Right things in great and small! 
Then, though the sky should fall, 
Sun, moon, and stars, and all 

You should have light. 

"This, further, I would say; 
Be you tempted as you m.ay, 
Each day and every day, 

Speak what is true ! 
True things, in great and small; 
Then, though the sky should fall, 
Sun, moon and stars and all. 

Heaven would show through." — Alice Cary. 

May. Last month of spring. There are thirty-one 

days. Trees full of leaves. The bare limbs are all covered. 

Daisies blooming. Flowers and birds everywhere. Warm 

days and cool mornings. 

candy 
lady 
glass 
berry 
sentence so as to denote owner- 
bird 
birds 
king 
kings 
boy 
boys 

102 



Teach plurals o\ 


: these : 




knife 






baby 


pony 






potato 


piano 






wife 


valley 






fox 


Write each of these 


in 


a sentenci 


ip: mouse 






child 


mice 






children 


horse 






girl 


horses 






girls 


James 






man 


John 






men 



What does each mean? 




hasn't 


o'er 


wouldn't 


won't 


1 'twas 


'twill 


e'er 


here's 


Ct. 


I.T. 


Fla. 


D. C. 


Ga. 


Ore. 


Ala. 


S. C. 



Contractions. 

it's 

we'll 

ma'am 

hadn't 
Abbreviations. 

N. Y. 

La. 

Tenn. 

Va. 
Dates for May. 

May 4, 1780, John James Audubon. 

May 4, 1796, Horace Mann. 

May 24, 1819, Queen Victoria*. 

May 25, 1803, Ralph Waldo Emerson. 

May 27, 1807, Louis Agassiz. 

May 29, 1726, Patrick Henry. 

Audubon. Born in Louisiana. At the age of seven 
knew the names of the birds where he lived. Learned 
where and how they built their nests, and the kinds of 
eggs they laid. His father bought for him books about 
birds and pictures of birds. He filled the walls of his 
room with these pictures. Sent to Paris to school when 
he was ten. He cared for the birds of France more than 
for other things. While there he learned to stuff and 
mount them, but as he would never shoot a bird his collec- 
tion grew very slowly. Learned to paint birds. Made 
a wonderful book, a very large one, with pictures and 
descriptions of birds. He knew more about birds than 
anyone else. It took him a long time to make his book. 

Horace Mann. Lived in Massachusetts. The father of 
the public school system. Was treated badly, because 

103 



he insisted on trained teachers and wanted to abolish the 
a — b — c method of teaching reading. Persevering, hard 
working, earnest. Caused a reformation in educational 
work. 

Nature Study. Butterflies: Once they were tiny 
eggs of different colors. The air and warm rain awoke 
the life within. Out of each egg came a little grub or 
caterpillar. The grub begins to eat the leaves and grows 
fast. He does nothing but eat and grow. When his 
skin gets too tight he bursts it open and has a new and 
brighter coat. In a few weeks he has shed his skin several 
times. When full grown he hangs himself to a stem, leaf 
or wall. Sometimes he spins silk thread which he winds 
round and round his body, thus forming a cocoon. While 
a caterpillar, or grub, he has twelve eyes; when he becomes 
a butterfly he has more than thirty thousand. The grub 
breathes through httle round holes in his sides. Body 
has thirteen rings. After hanging to a twig or other 
object, one or two days, the skin of the caterpillar again 
splits, and it has a body of a different shape and color. It 
is then called a chrysalis. Those which spin cocoons 
change inside the cocoons. Others crawl into the earth 
to change. Once again the skin splits open and the 
butterfly comes forth. 

Bees. Three kinds in every hive, queen, drones and 
workers. Only one queen bee in each hive. She lays 
the eggs. She is longer and smoother than the others. 
Workers collect the honey, protect the young and raake 
the wax. Males, or drones, do not work and have no 
stings. 



104 



CHAPTER IX, 



GEOGRAPHY. 



Begin the study with children who are in the second 
grade. The first instruction should be oral and the best 
method for teaching the natural divisions of land and 
water is to use sand. With the top of a large pasteboard 
box and a cup of clean white sand the teacher may make 
for the children, islands, peninsulas, capes, gulfs, bays, 
etc. If the color of the paste-board should be light blue 
this will serve nicely to represent water. With a pencil, 
river-courses and lakes may be traced in the sand. Some 
gravel kept in a box near by may be used for mountains. 
A sand-table with a quantity of sand is better, but where 
this is not practicable use the box top, or any fiat surface. 
Have the sand damp but not wet. If you get it too wet 
add more sand or let stand over night. A very little flour 
helps to make it better for working and molding into 
shapes. Iron-moulder's sand is excellent. 

Geography includes many branches. It tells us some- 
thing of botany, astronomy, zoology, geology, history, etc. 

Teach the directions to children, north, east, south 
and west. Teach where the sun rises and sets and call 
attention to the way in which it comes into the school- 
room in the morning and in the afternoon. Lead children 
to observe, to think, and draw conclusions for them- 
selves. Tell them to notice their own shadows as they 
come to school and as they go home. At twelve o'clock 
these shadows are so short that they can step on their 

105 



own heads. By watching shadows you can tell almost 
exactly what time of day it is. Before people had clocks 
the farmers' waives had noon-marks on their kitchen 
floors. 

On a windy day, ask, "Children, how can we tell from 
which direction the wind is blowing?" (By looking at the 
trees, and at smoke.) Let the boys make paper whirligigs 
if they wish and put them out on the fence so that the 
w^ind may blow them. While they are interested in the 
subject make use of your language lessons about the 
wind. Ask: "What are weather vanes?" and "Of what 
use are wind-mills?" 

Teach the difference between real objects and pictures 
of them; also between- pictures and plans (orjmaps.) 
With a tape-line, measure the school-room, or have the 
children to do so. Then, draw the plan of the room on 
the board indicating where the v/indows and doors are. 
Show how the plan is smaller than the real room and yet 
is like it. Next let the children make their own plans 
on paper, this time putting in the desks and other furni- 
ture. Teach them how to draw with a scale of measure- 
ment. If a room is thirty feet long let this be represented 
on the board by three feet, or on paper by three inches. 
An inch may stand for any "certain" number, no matter 
what it is. It may stand for a foot, or for twenty feet. 
After spending a day or two on the school-room plan, draw 
that of the play-ground, and if the interest continues 
have the children to draw plans of their own homes and 
yards. 

Then show a map and ask if it is a plan. All maps 
are plans and all plans are maps. The only difference is 
that we call the drawings "plans" when they are of rooms, 
houses, yards, towns, or cities; and "maps" when they 

lOG 



are of countries. Show and compare a picture of an 
island and a map of one, a picture of an isthmus and a 
map of one. Globes are useful in teaching Geography. 
Small ones may be bought for fifty cents. Show two maps 
of the same country, one large and one small, and teach 
that though a map of a country may be of any size, the 
country itself remains always the same size. 

Tell the children what a plain is; that it is level like the 
school-room floor, while hills and mountains are high. A 
valley may be illustrated with the sand or with an open 
book, or a piece of card board folded to show the two 
slopes. The same thing reversed gives a good conception 
of a jidge or water shed. A ball of yarn with a hat pin 
through the center makes a miniature world on its axis, and 
with the same simple object, latitude and longitude may 
be explained. 

Ask "How do you know^ there are other countries in 
the world?" "What have you seen that came from 
another country?" Make them think and give answers. 
(Animals in circuses or zoological gardens; articles of food 
used at home, etc.) Talk of little children in other lands 
and ask why they dress differently and eat differently. 
Why does the Eskimo child eat bear meat and fish, and 
wear skins, while the boy in Africa wears few clothes? 
The little children in Lapland wear two pairs of stock- 
ings, then wrap their feet in dry grass before putting on 
their shoes. They wear two pairs of mittens, too, and 
their caps are lined with eider down. 

Ask why some people build houses of straw, others of 
wood and others of ice? Why do people irrigate the land 
in some places? 

Swiss boys and girls have a holiday when the men come 
home from the mountains with their flocks. As they go 

107 



out to meet their fathers and brothers, they sing songs and 
wave flags, and in the village, bells are rung. They have 
a merry, happy time. 

In Holland the children wear wooden shoes, and some- 
times they take them off and float them in the canals and 
play thatJtheyTare^boats. They tie strings to them so 
that they can pull them back. 

Esquimaux children cannot read or write. 

Japanese children take off their shoes before going 
into the school-room. They sit on the fioor while they 
write and stud}^ They haA^e no pens or pencils, but use 
brushes. Their writing is up and down the page instead 
of straight across, as ours. 

In Russia the children make ice hills and have great 
fun sliding down. They know all about skating. 

Tell about the ocean. The bottom is uneven like the 
land; there are mountains and valleys in it. In some 
places the water is only a few feet deep, and in others 
several miles. What are white caps? Breakers? What 
is the surf? What does the word "brackish" mean? 
What are billows? This brings up the subject of light- 
houses, or of life-boats. 

Ask the children if they had anything for breakfast that 
came from far away. Tell of coffee, tea, bananas, or 
spices. John Wilcox, Milford, N. Y., publishes "Food 
Plant Charts" which contain pictures and descriptions of 
the food plants of commerce. These are sixty cents 
apiece, and each chart tells of ten plants. 

Have review lessons and see what the children remember 
about the things you tell them. Ask what is an isthmus? 
A cape? A strait? 

Tell about the five races and show, on your map of the 
world, the country inhabited hy each. Create in the 

108 



children such an interest in Geography that when the next 
year comes, and they are ready for a text-book, they will 
enter upon the work with zest. 

The following is quoted from a letter written by Miss 
Lizzie Abernathy, a successful teacher of Pulaski, Tenn. 

"I begin to instruct children in Geography when they 
are in the second grade; that is, we talk about the world. 
They like that. I make them tell me all they know from 
what they have seen, and then I tell them about the part 
they have not seen. We use no books, but after I have 
explained the shape of the world, and the making of 
maps, we use a large map of the hemispheres. Each day 
I require them to repeat what we talked about the day 
before. An apple, with a hatpin stuck through it. I use 
to represent the world for these little people. I can cut 
it into two parts to show^ the hemispheres. With a pin 
I can outline the continents upon it. 

"To explain the map of the hemispheres, I tell them 
that I have a friend that I want them to know about, and 
that this friend lives a long way off; that I can tell them 
all about her and show them her picture. I produce the 
picture, and after they have looked at it, I ask them about 
the color of her hair and eyes, her size, etc., to show them 
how^ incomplete a picture is. I have one of them to shut 
his eyes and pass his hand over the face of the picture and 
then over his own face to show how different a picture is 
from the real thing. 

"Next, I tell them about my friend's beautiful home. I 
say that I have no picture of that, but I can show them 
how it is on the board. I tell them about the garden, the 
walks, the different kinds of trees in the yard. I speak 
of one tree being on the east side of the house, another on 
the west side, etc. Then I go to the board and draw a plan 

109 



of my friend's home. The children become interested 
and understand what I mean. Now I ask them which 
they would like best to look at — my friend's beautiful 
home, a picture of her home, or a plan of her home. I 
bring out all of the points of difference between objects, 
pictures, and mxaps (or plans). We spend two or three 
days in making maps of the school-grounds. We call the 
right side of our map 'cast,' and the left 'west' each time; 
the top 'north,' etc. 

"After this I make a m.ap of something they are not 
familiar with, and describe it as I go to show how different 
is the picture formed in their minds from the representation 
on the board. I tell them that we will take trips now to 
see the world, and that this is the way we will do it: Some 
people have traveled about and made maps and pictures, 
and have written about the wonderful things they saw; we 
will get some of their books and look at the maps and 
pictures, and read what they say. 

"Besides preparing them for the study of Geography, I 
am getting better acquainted with the minds of these 
little folks. They become so much interested that they 
forget I am the teacher, and talk to me freely, and ask 
more questions than I can answer. 

"Next, with my apple cut half in two, and with the 
flat sides against the board, I explain the map of the 
hemispheres. This is very important. I show how it is 
that x\sia appears both in the east and in the west, and I 
tell them to think of the hemispheres as standing out 
from the paper just as the apple stands out from the 
board. Pupils who have not been drilled in this will tell 
you that Greenland is southeast from the north pole. 

"From this tim.e on we use both the apple and the map 
in our talks about the world. The children learn the 

110 



principal divisions of land and water. Then I show them 
where we live, as it is represented on the map. From 
this point we take journeys in all directions. I describe 
everything of importance, as we go, and trace our course 
on the map. They remember it wonderfully well. Soon, 
I send members of the class to the map and let them take 
us where they please — sightseeing. Their favorite journey 
is around the world; we take this trip in every possible 
way. The amount of instruction given depends upon the 
age and intelligence of the children. I am guided mainly 
by their interest and enthusiasm." 

At the beginning of the third year text-books may be 
given to children. It may be necessary to explain to 
them how to use these. Each day instruct the class how 
to prepare the lesson for the next day, until your pupils 
are able to study alone. It is not fair to leave this part 
of school work to parents who already have plenty to do. 

Teach your pupils how to study without getting help at 
home. One child comes to the class with poor lessons 
because be has not been taught how to study. Another 
has splendid lessons because some one at home has had 
the patience to sit down and drill them into his head for 
an hour or two each night. One may be as smart as the 
other. Neither reflects much credit on the teacher. One 
of the first things a child should learn is to do his own 
work and stand on his own m.erit. There are mothers 
who draw maps for their children, and these are handed 
in to the teacher as the pupil's work. What are those 
mothers doing but teaching children to be dishonest!* In 
such cases it is plainly the duty of the teacher not to 
accept the vv^ork, but to have the child, before he leaves 
to draw the map himself. Kindly, but firmly, and with- 
out casting reflection on the parent, show why it is right 

111 



for each child to do his own work and solve his own prob- 
lems, no matter of what nature. Then when the time 
for reward comes, he will feel that he has justly earned 
it. Have the children to study their first book in Geog- 
raphy very thoroughly before leaving it. I may take 
a year, or it may take two years to do this. Review 
often and teach them to spell the names of countries, 
cities, rivers, etc. Some of these will be very hard for 
little people, and must be taught slowly, a few at a time. 
Have the children to write lists of some of the proper 
names in each lesson. In reviewing, study the lessons 
topically. Have out-door lessons when possible, especially 
Ai fortunate enough to have a stream near the school, In 
Germany, the out-door schools have proved very suc- 
cessful. Give to each child some definite work to do, 
something to ' investigate for himself. Plan and study 
for the lesson. Lead and direct. Have children to report 
what they learn. Direct their observation. Stimulate 
and arouse thought. Do not let the lesson degenerate 
into a mere frolic. 

Do not ask questions which can be answered by "yes" 
and "no." Ask others besides those fotind in the book. 
Remember you do not want memory lessons merely but 
the childrenjmust be taught to think. When subjects 
are hard to understand, try to simplify them with objects, 
drawings, or pictures. Have map drawing on the board 
and on paper. A large map on the board may be started 
on Monday by one member of a class and throughout the 
week may be added to by others. Have maps showing 
the coal fields of the world, the manufacturing districts 
and farming lands. Sand maps, putty maps, or relief 
maps of burnt paper soaked into a pulp, may serve to 
show the drainage and surface of a country. 

112 



Pulp maps can be made with bits of blotting or other 
soft paper soaked in water till it forms paste. A pinch 
of salt may be added. Rub together well. Outhne map 
on paste-board or wood surface. Put mixture within 
outhne. Model mountains, valleys, etc. Trace rivers 
with pencil or sharp stick. "When dry,, color rivers, lakes 
and oceans w^th blue pencil or water colors. 

Products -may be taught in various ways. Children 
may bring lists of those found in certain countries. They 
may make maps and glue the products in the right places 
— little pieces of coal for the coal regions, sticks for lumber, 
gold paper for gold, and where other things fail, pictures 
of things, or simply the names. Again, you may use a 
plan of this kind. Give, for instance, the products of the 
Mississippi valley. Tell the children to draw these and 
arrange them in their own way. One child may fill his 
drawing sheet with little circles, and within one draw a 
bale of cotton, in another a bag of sugar, or picture of 
sugar cane, in another wheat, another corn, and in another 
a peanut. Under each may be printed the name and 
each may be colored if desired. The next drawing sheet, 
possibly, is altogether different — there are Uttle oblong 
squares arranged in an artistic way, and the w^ords "Pro- 
ducts of the Mississippi Valley" printed zigzag across the 
face. Children are ingenious and enjoy the privilege of 
carrying out their own ideas. Draw a train of cars on 
the board. Print or write names of products on cars, 
showing with what the train is loaded. Draw a ship and 
write on the sails what is being brought in, as tea, coffee. 
Give one product for study, and see in how many forms 
it w^ill be brought. Let us suppose it is "sugar." One 
child may bring a piece of sugar cane, one a tiny bottle 
of molasses, one a lump of loaf sugar, another a bottle of 

118 



brown sugar, and still another a tea-cake. All are made 
from the same thing. If cotton is the product there may 
be a cotton leaf, bloom, boll, seed, thread, (white, black 
and colored), and pieces of cotton goods. Besides these 
there are half a dozen things which may be put into little 
bottles, as cotton seed oil, cottolene, a medicine made 
from it, etc. If these collections are artistically arranged 
on cardboard, they are interesting for public exhibitions. 
Wheat, corn, oats, all may be studied in the same 
way. 

In studying a country always use a large map. If 
you haven't one, make one on the board, and locate each 
place mentioned. In teaching latitude and longitude 
show why it is necessary to have some place to measure 
from before you can measure. Take your apple or ball 
of yarn and stick a pin in it to represent a person. Ask 
where he is on the ball? On the top? The bottom? The 
side? Turn the ball over. The children see why they 
must have some starting point. Now draw or mark by 
some means, a line to represent the equator, and show 
why another line is necessary — a meridian. Then explain 
that every circle has in it 360 degrees, and that one cannot 
get north from the equator more than 90 degrees — a 
fourth of a circle. Where would you place the pin to 
make the man 45 degrees north? (Half way between the 
north pole and the equator.) In the longitude show that 
the greatest distance any one can get from the prime 
meridian is ISO degrees. Prepare the lesson always and 
think "How can I make it interesting to my class?" "Is 
there anything to be explained, and if so, do I understand 
it thoroughly, myself?" Many children ask, "How can 
a person tell when they get to the North pole?" Make 
it plain with the use of an apple, an orange, or a globe. 

114 



A little thing that is helpful to children in studying 
Geography is to tell them that there are five oceans, five 
great lakes, five continents, five divisions of land, (island, 
peninsula, cape, isthmus, promontory), five great powers 
of Europe. A lesson on "What you had for dinner yes- 
terday" is suitable for Geography. Talk about where the 
things came from, how they grow, how they are prepared, 
etc. Look in the paper for the market column, and, 
cutting out the list of things sold at the groceries, use it 
for a lesson. On Friday afternoon occasionally have all 
the Geography classes to unite and study about one 
country, as "China." Have compositions, readings, facts 
and pictures. Maybe some child has a pair of chop-sticks 
to show, another some Chinese shoes. "If you have 
"Africa," one can tell of Livingston, one of Stanley, and 
some of the larger pupils the main facts of the war between 
the Boers and English. Let somebody tell of Egypt with 
its ancient monuments, and another of the pigmies who 
dwell within the dark forest. A journey through the 
desert may be described and the diamond industry talked 
of. Show magazine pictures of Roosevelt on his hu.xLS 
and tell about the interesting things he sees and writes 
of at the present time. 

If "Tennessee" is studied, have a large sand-map, 
showing the surface and drainage. Let strings represent 
the railroads, and buttons, the cities. Have one pupil to 
explain the eight natural divisions, another the rivers, 
another the cities, and another the products. 

If the map of Europe is being studied, and the children 
find it difficult to learn the countries and their capitals, 
give one to each child. Say: "Mary, draw a small map 
of 'France' tomorrow. Cut it out with the scissors and 
come to the class with it pinned on your dress. Find out 

115 



everything you can about France in your lesson." Give 
to another child "England," to another "Russia," etc. If 
one does well in his recitation ask him to lecture before 
the school next morning. Teach pupils to not only have 
a knowledge of things, but to tell what they know clearly. 
Invent Geography games for Friday, or have an occasional 
Geography match. Teach Geography in connection with 
Literature ,and History after the text-book is completed. 

Assign lessons clearly so that children will not make 
mistakes and study the wrong ones. In studying a map, 
(that of the New England States, for instance), teach the 
capitals and principal cities for one lesson, the rivers, bays 
and lakes for another. Again, have the children to study 
alphabetically; let them write the name of everything 
beginning with "a" as "Atlantic," "Augusta;" the names 
beginning with "b," as "Bangor," "Boston," "Burling- 
ton," etc. 

Call attention to the events happening in various parts 
of the world, and teach Geography in connection with 
them. Have children to take trips on the maps; ask 
"Through what waters would you pass in going from 
Chicago to New York?" Allow the children to make a 
Geography scrap-book and paste into it clippings which 
they help to collect. Be wide awake and seek to make 
each lesson full of interest to your pupils. 



Helps. Frye's "Child and Nature," and Frye's 
"Teacher's Manual," pubHshed by Ginn & Co., Boston. 

Parker's "How to Teach Geography," Appleton & Co. 

"The New Geography," Trotter, pubHshed by D. C. 
Heath & Co., Atlanta. 

"Potter's Geography," E. L. Kellogg, New York. 

"Little People of Other Lands," and Frye's "Brooks 
and Brook Basins," Ginn & Co., Boston. 

Nature Readers published by educational publishers 
everywhere. 

116 



CHAPTER X. 

HISTORY. 

No one can successfully teach a lesson in History without 
thoroughly mastering the facts. View it from every 
standpoint, look up in other books all obscure points, be 
famihar with the meaning of each word. Ask yourself, 
"Who is this lesson about? What happened? When? 
Where? Why?" Be able to locate every place mentioned, 
to give every date. Know more than your text-book 
gives. Consult other sources of information. Be filled 
with your subject, but present to your class only the most 
important things. 

First lessons should be short and should be read and 
discussed in the class; the pupils will thus become famiUar 
with their new books. Teach them how to study; to ask 
themselves "Who? Where? When?" etc. 

Do not allow^ them to memorize nor to answer only 
those questions asked in the book. At the close of each 
lesson have a brief review of the points to be noted. Ask 
questions in every form possible. Turn and twist them 
in such a way that the class will be compelled to know 

them. 

\ Until children have learned to study alone, go over with 
them each day the lesson for the day following. Call 
attention to words which may be difficult for them. Have 
them to locate all places mentioned; either find them in 
the Geographies or on the wall map. 

117 



Write sentences on the board, leaving blanks to be 
supplied by the children. If the lesson is about Columbus 
write : 

In the old city of in Italy, there once lived 

a little boy whose name was 

■ His father was a He loved 

to watch the on the Sea. 

If the lesson is about Indians, write : 

Indians lived in tents called 

An Indian baby is called a 

An Indian woman is called a 

An Indian chief is called a 

Indians lived by and . 

The did all the cooking. 

Teach only the most important dates. Write the first 
one at the top of the board, and have each child to write 
it on the fly leaf or blank page of his history. Next 
day, if another is to be learned, place it just under the 
first, and as a new one is presented, place it under the last 
one written. In this way one date leads to and suggests 
another, and around them can be grouped a chain of facts 
which will be better remembered because of the founda- 
tion. Among the important dates in the early part of 
United States history are: 

1492 
1497 
1512 
1513 
1521 
1565 

118 



Try to get the children to fix these firmly in their minds 
one at a time, so that the list can be recited by all, with 
its accompanying fact or facts. Teach the rhyme: 

"In fourteen hundred and ninety-two 
Columbus sailed the ocean blue." 

Children may themselves make verses, and in this way 
im])ress the facts of history on their minds. Give them 
a fev/ ideas about how to begin, and write on the board 
some words which rhyme. If they are studying about 
Columbus, for instance, these words are suggestive: 



sea 
three 


bpam 
main 


queen 
seen 


free 


vain 


green 


mood 

food 

rude 


trip 
ship 
dip 


west 
best 
dressed 


afraid 
made 
stayed 


aboard 
roared 
hoard 


boat 
float 
note 


land 

band 

sand 


more 

ashore 

roar 


gold 
told 
sold 


grew 
new 
blew 
blue 


spice 
nice 
day 
way 


sails 
tales 
sees 
trees 



For the early settlements these dates are important : 

1(307 
1608 
1613 
1620 
1630 

119 



As you add^new'^ones, put all of the old ones on the 
board, and have the class to give the facts connected with 
each. Pointing to "U)07," let the children say: "James- 
town was settled." Pointing to "1608," "Quebec was 
settled," etc. Have the answers recited in concert and 
then separately by the pupils. 

Allow children to make history books and to put into 
them drawings, compositions and tables. When they study 
about Indians, they may draw a wigwam, a tomahawk, a 
canoe, or Indian vessel. Again they may write lists of 
Indians, or Indian tribes. Tables of this knid may be 
made: 

EXPLORERS. 



NAME 



Columbus 

Cabot 

P. de Leon 



NATIONALITY 



Italian. Employed by 
the Spanish. 

Italian. Employed by 
the English. 

Spaniard. 



DATE 



1492 
1497 
1512 



CAUSE OF FAME 

Discovered the 
West Indies. 

^Discovered main 
land N. America. 

Discov'edFlorida 



SETTLEMENTS. 


NAME 


NATIONALITY 


DATE 


ONE LEAD'g MAN 


Jamestown 
Plymouth 


English 
English 


1607 
1620 


John Smith 
Miles Standish 


WARS. 


NAME 


DATES 


FOUGHT BY 


VICTORS 


Revolution 


1775-1781 


American & English 


Americans. 



120 



In the same way tables of battles may be made 



NAME 



DATE 



COMMANDERS 



RESULT 



PRESIDENTS. 



NAME 


STATE 


DATE 


t'rm 


LEADIHG EVENTS 


Washington 


Va. 


1789 


2 


Vermont, Kentucky 
and Tennessee ad- 
mitted as States, etc. 


Adams 


Mass. 


1797 


1 


Alien and Sedition 
Laws, etc. 


Jefferson 


Va. 


1801 


2 War with Tripoli, Pur- 
1 chase of Louisiana, etc. 



Compositions, questions, maps, tables, drawings, poetry, 
lists, all may be copied by the children into their history 
books. Poems and pictures may be pasted in. Combine 
language lessons with history, and for busy work have 
pupils to make lists of the principal characters of whom 
they have studied, of the places mentioned and battles 
fought. There may be also Hsts of explorers, settlements, 
dates, wars, heroes, ships, etc. 

Have frequent reviews and have variety in them. Write 
on the board questions, topics, or names, and have the 
children to recite from them. On one day have pencils 
and tablets brought to the class, and tell the children to 
put down twelve numbers, or fourteen, or twenty, accord- 
ing to the time allowed for recitation. Then for number 
"one," have them to write the name of the man who 
discovered Florida; for number "two," the man who 
discovered the Pacific Ocean; number "three," the man 



121 



whu conquered Mexico; number "four," the man for whom 
America was named; number "five," the name of the 
first permanent Enghsh settlement, etc. When all have 
finished, call out the answer to number "one," number 
"two," number "three," and on to the end. Tell the 
children to draw a line through all which they have 
missed. See who has given the greatest number of correct 
answers. 

Have a review lesson giving out proper names and words 
to be spelled by the pupils. 

Read a description of a character about wdiom they 
have studied and let them guess who it is. Give cards 
with dates written on them and have pupils to identify 
the facts connected with each. Use only iiriportant 
dates. 

Hold up letters and ha\'e children give names of noted 
persons and places beginning with those letters. Make 
it a game and see who can win the greatest number of 
letters. 

Have History matches, allowing children to trap each 
other, or to have sides in the old-fashioned way, each one 
sitting down when he has missed a certain number of 
qtiestions. 

Tell the children to write questions on the lessons, and 
to try to get hard ones. Require these to be written 
plainly and distinctly, and then to be cut into slips of 
paper ready for use. They may be put into several 
envelopes or boxes, and labeled, "Questions for the primary 
History class." On Fridays allow th^ children to study 
them. Have system and order about their distribution 
so that each child may have each box from which to 
study. After they have had sufficient time to learn, then 
have the match or game. 

122 



Another day, write in bold, plain letters on small pieces 
of paper the names of prominent characters about whom 
the pupils have studied, and allowing one child to stand, 
pin a name on his back. Let the others look at it and 
tell him something about that person until he guesses 
who it is. If he has the name "Pocahontas," one will 
say, "She was called the Lady Rebecca;" another, "She 
married John Rolfe;" and another, "She saved John 
Smith's life." The one who is standing guesses correctly, 
a little girl then has a name pinned on her back, and so 
the game continues. 

Children may impersonate characters and allow the 
others to guess who they are. One may say, "I am the 
man w^ho tried so hard to found colonies in America. I 
lived in the time of Queen Elizabeth and later James L 
Elizabeth liked me, but King James had me put into 
prison." Some one will guess "Sir Walter Raleigh," and 
another child begins. In these games and reviews don't 
let the brightest children monopolize the lesson, but give 
all a chance. 

Debates on historical subjects are a source of pleasure 
to the little folks. An easy subject is: "Resolved that 
George Washington was greater than Christopher Colum- 
bus." Another is: "Resolved that the Indians w^ere 
unjustly treated by the white people." 

For composition work wTite subjects on slips of paper, 
and turning them face dovv^nward on a book or table, let 
each child draw one to write about. 

Where a poem can be read to advantage to a history 
class, make use of it. If the Revolution is being studied 
read aloud Paul Revere's Ride. Selections from Evange- 
line may be used at the proper time and the Courtship 
of Miles Standish. In your collection of pictures show 
those which bear on the lessons. 

123 



Make a History scrap-book, and'put into it clippings 
and pictures, allowing the children to help. Use your 
own outlines on the blackboard if they are better suited 
to your class than those given in the text-book. Be 
original and keep up the interest. 

Make the children feel that the men, women and children 
about whom they study, were real beings like ourselves; 
that they had feelings and pleasures and disappointments; 
that they were real flesh and blood and not merely names. 

A little boy, who had lived all of his life in the country, 
traveled through Oklahoma and Indian Territory. When 
he crossed the rivers whose names he had learned in his 
Geography lessons, he was much surprised and said: 
"Mamma, I didn't know there were really such rivers in 
the world. I thought they were put in the book just to 
make it hard for little boys and girls to learn." So it is 
in some History classes. With many children the names 
they learn there convey no thought, no idea. They are 
simply names to them and nothing more. 

Try to make your lessons attractive so that the children 
will almost imagine that they were back with those people 
and knew them and lived as they did. Cause the dry 
facts of history to teem with life and vigor. Let the 
children know that all of these things we study about had 
their influence on us, on our country, on the world — just 
as the way in which we live now will bear fruit hereafter. 
Dwell on the characters of those who have done something 
for humanity, of those whose lives were spent for the 
uplifting and upbuilding of the world. Then teach that 
God is in History; that out of all the dreadful things 
which men have caused to happen — the battles, the 
bloodshed, the millions of lives lost — God has worked good 
to the world; and that slowly, but surely, it is growing 
better. 

124 



In the last half century the United States has arbitrated 
between nations many times and prevented war. The 
time will come when the swords will be turned into plow- 
shares, and when all the earth will be filled with the 
knowledge of the Lord. 

Do not confuse the minds of young children with trivial 
and unimportant facts and dates. Look at the lesson 
as a whole, and choose from it the parts to be impressed 
on the child mind. 

Do not allow the lesson to drag, but be wide-awake, 
well-informed, interested, and try to inspire your pupils 
with a desire to learn and to find out things for. them- 
selves. Encourage search w^ork; discourage mere memoriz- 
ing. Sometimes a pupil will say: "Tell me where it is on 
the page and I will tell you the answer." This is all 
wrong. A pupil should know a lesson whether the teacher 
begins at the bottom or the top of the page. Break up 
this habit if it exists in your classes ; do not allow it. Begin 
at the end or in the middle, or anywhere in the lesson. One 
day start with one boy or girl, and the next day with 
another. Surpirse the children, keep them on the alert. 
Do not let them know who will be called on next. 

Be enthusiastic and your feeling will be communicated 
to your class. If there is one who will not study talk to 
him privately. Find out where the trouble lies. Perhaps 
he is discouraged or does not know how to study or is too 
far advanced. If he is not classified correctly, do not do 
him an injustice by keeping him in the class. If he is 
simply backward, encourage and praise him when you 
can, and never ridicule him. A little encjuragement 
sometimes works wonders. 

Have pupils to study a subject well and lecture before 
the class, using maps and blackboard. Teach them to 

125 



express their thoughts in clear, definite language, and to 
feel easy and not embarrassed before others. 

Occasionally, as a reward, let a studious child conduct 
the lesson, and'you stand at the back of the room and 
listen, interrupting only when necessary. 

Dojnot^repeat questions. Train your pupils to be 
attentive and to listen closely. Speak distinctly and 
know the lesson so thoroughly that you can teach withou : 
the text-book. When reviewing, ask questions rapidly, in 
as many forms as possible, and see that all have a part in 
the recitation. 




126 



CHAPTER XI. 

SPECIAL PROGRAMS. 

The following are not complete programs, but are 
merely suggestive. Ingenious teachers can adapt and 
arrange songs, poems, or facts, to suit different occasions. 
A welcome address, composed by the teacher or pupil, may 
be given by a small boy. 

Rhymes may be made and taught to a class of Httle 
ones. A public school teacher, who is full of original 
ideas, wrote an alphabet for her "Tennessee" program, and 
had each child to learn a verse: 

A is for America, the home of the free. 

B is the Banner that floats over me. (The child who 

recites this Une carries banner or flag.) 
C is for Country, our joy and our pride. 
D is our Duty, its laws to abide. 
E is for Emigrant seeking a home, 
F is for Freedom for which he had come, 
G is the Grant which gave him the land, 
H is the Hope which strengthened his hand. 
I is the Indian who threatened his Hfe, etc. 

Words of songs may be changed, if necessary, and 
adapted to famiUar tunes. Songs, recitations, and inter- 
esting facts, should be collected from various sources and 
pasted into scrap-books, ready for use when needed. 

127 



TENNESSEE. 
Have maps of Tennessee on the wall. 
Facts. (To be given separately by a class of little 
boys.) 

1. Indians once lived here. 

3. Tennessee means "River with the great bend." 

4. DeSoto passed through Tennessee. 

5. LaSalle built a fort wdiere Memphis now is. 
(i. Daniel Boone w^as a^great hunter. 

7. William Bean built the first cabin in Tennessee. 

8. It was built on Boone's Creek. 

9. Bean came in 1769. 

10. His settlement w^as called the "Watauga" settlement. 
Concert Recitation. (To be used by any number of 

pupils.) 

"Of Tennessee the meaning is 
'The river with its bend,' 
Whose waters run below the State 
And cross at either end. 

"This State mines coal ana iron, 
And marble, pink and green; 
It has a healthy climate 
And many a lovely scene. 

"Knoxville, Memphis, Nashville, 
Are handsome cities three 
And Chattanooga also 
Is worth a trip to see. 

"The heights of Lookout Mountain 
Above the mists and cloud 
Once knew the tread of armies 

And noise of battle loud." — St. Nicholas. 

1.28 



Subjects jor Compositions: 

Watauga. 
John Sevier. 
James Robertson. 
Indian Tribes. 
Cumberland Settlement. 
Thomas Sharpe Spencer. 
Schools of Tennessee. 
Debate. Resolved that James Rabertson was the real 
father of Tennessee, and not John Sevier; or 

Debate. Resolved that John Sevier was the greatest 
man connected with the early history of Tennessee. 

Facts. (To be given separately by a class of little 
girls.) 

1. A part of Tennessee was once called "Miro District." 

2. John Sevier was our first Governor. 

3. Samuel Doak taught the first school in Tennessee. 

4. Nashville was first called Nashborough. 

5. Murfreesboro was the capital for six years. 

6. Thomas Sharpe Spencer Uved, during one winter, in 

a hollow tree. 

7. John Donelson came to Nashville in a boat called 

the "Adventure." 

8. Jonesboro is the oldest town in Tennessee. 

9. Russell Bean was the first white child born in Ten- 
nessee. 

SoHi^ Tune, "Beulah Land." 

1 "The land of pure and balmy air, 

Of streams so clear and skies so fair; 

Of mountains grand and fountains free 
~he lovely land of Tennessee. 

129 



CHORUS. 

"O Tennessee! Fair Tennessee! 
The land of all the earth for me ; 
I stand upon thy mountains high 
And hold communion with thy sky; 
I view the glowing landscape o'er 
Old Tennessee forevermore. 

"The fairest of the fair we see, 
The bravest of the brave have we; 
The freest of the noble free 
In battle-scarred old Tennessee? 

"The rarest fruits and fairest flowers 
And happiest homes on earth are ours. 
If heaven below could only be 
'Twould surely shine in Tennessee." 

—A.J.Holt. 



OCTOBER. 

Address of Welcome. By a small boy. 

Recitation. "Come Little Leaves." (Metcalf's Element- 
ary English.) 

Recitation. For a little girl. 

" 'Little maid, pretty maid, 

Where goest thou? 
'Down to the meadow 

To milk my cow.' 
'May I go with thee? 

'No, not now; 
When I call for thee 

Then come thou.' 

130 



Soji(^. Tune, "Marching Through Georgia." 

1 "Pretty wreathes of maple leaves 

Upon our heads we wear, 
Some are yellow, some are red. 
And some are green and fair. 
To the w^oodland w^ays we went 
And found them scattered there, 
O, what a bright, pretty carpet! 

CHORUS. 

"Hurrah! hurrah! for maple trees so gay. 
That gild with brightness all the woodland way 
Making fair and beautiful each glad October day, 
Ere comes the cold frosty winter. 

2 "Could the little leaves but speak 

They'd tell se many things, 

Of the summer sky so blue 

And gleam of lovely wings; 

Of the joy and beauty 

That the glad October brings 

Ere comes the cold, frosty winter." 

— Selected. 
Verse. For a little girl. 

"In October the leaves are colored 
By a touch from the artist Jack Frost, 
And the late flowers — the cosmos and aster — 
Replace the blossomiS we've lost." 

Concert Rectiation. October. 

1 "O, the fair October 

Once again is here; 
'Tis the golden season, 
_ Of the long, long year. 

131 



2 "Ripened nuts and apples 

Now are dropping down, 
And each woodland monarch 
Wears a golden crown. 

3 "Soon o'er hill and forest, 

Wintry winds will blow; 
And the world will glisten 
With the fair white snow." 

Song. "October Gave a Party." Tune, "Faith is the 
Victory," omitting chorus. 

1 October gave a party. 

The leaves by hundreds came; 

The chestnut, oak and maple 

And leaves of every name. 

The sunshine spread a carpet (1) 

And everything was grand ; 

Miss Weather lead the dancing, (2) 

Professor Wind the band. (3) 

2 The chestnuts came in yellow, 
The oaks in crimson dressed, 
The lovely Misses Maples 

In scarlet looked their best. 

All balanced to their partners (4) 

And gaily fluttered by; (5) 

The sight was like a rainbow (G) 

New fallen from the sky. 

3 Then in the rustic hollow 

At hide and seek they played; 
The party closed at sundown 
But everybody'stayed. 

132 



Professor Wind played louder (7) 
Then flew along the ground, 
And then the party ended 
With hands across all round. (8) 

—Song Stories for Utile Folks. 

(This song is very effective with accompanying motions. 
There should be an even number of children.) 

DIRECTIONS. 

1. Use both hands in downward sweep as if spreading 

a carpet. 

2. Left foot forward. Position as if ready to dance. 

3. Both hands up as if playing a cornet, or hand raised 
as if to keep time. 

4. Partners balance or bow to each other. 

5. Fluttering motion with fingers. 

6. Hands arched above the head. 

7. Same motion as 3. 

8. Form a circle with crossed hand. March around 
several times, then break ranks and march out two by 
two. 

Quotations about October. 

Recitation. Mr. Crow's Opinion. 

" 'I declare,' cried Mr. Crow, 
One fine October day, 
'I'm really glad to see the wrens 
And blackbirds fly away; 
Glad i see the orioles 
And bluebirds southward bound. 
For none appreciate my voice 
When other songs abound. 

133 



My coat of black seems commonplace 

Besides those birds so gay; 

So, I declare, I'm really glad 

To see them fly away.' " — Selected. 

Song. Autumn. Tune, "Spanish Cavalier." 

1 The happy autumn days we welcome again, 
They whisper the same olden story 

Of meadows so brown, and nuts falling down 
And woodlands robed in splendor and glory. 

CHORUS. 

Sweet autumn days we welcome again, 

When beauty around us is lying; 

Ere from the cold north 

King Winter comes forth 

To send a million snowflakes a-flying. 

2 O beautiful is May, when all the earth is gay, 
And woodland aisles with bird songs are ringini 
Yet fair are the days when glad harvest ways 
Re-echo to the reaper's glad singing. — Selected. 

Recitation. Down to Sleep. Helen Hunt Jackson. 

Verse. For little boy or girl. 

The golden-rod is yellow, 
The corn is turning brown; 
The trees in apple orchards 
With fruit are bending down. 

— Helen Hunt Jackson. 

134 



THANKSGIVING. 



Bible Quotations. For opening exercise 
Psalms. Chapter. Verse < 



24 
34 
66 
75 
92 
90 



pter 


Verse 


100 


3 


100 


5 


103 


1 and 2 


105 


1 


106 


1 


113 


2 



Psalm 117 
Concert Recitation. 

Thank God for beauty broadcast 
Over our own dear land ; 
Thank God, who to feed his children, 
Opens his bounteous hand; 
Thank God for the lavish harvests, 
Thank Him from strand to strand. 

— Margaret Sangster. 

Song. Thanksgiving Day. Lydia Maria Child. (Found 
in Metcalf's Elementary English.). 

Composition. Story of the First Thanksgiving. (Found 
in U. S. Histories.) 

Tune, "Yankee Doodle." 
What matters it the cold wind's blast, 
What matters though 'tis snowing, 
Thanksgiving day has come at last 
To grandmama's we're going. 
I'm sure we'll find sweet cakes and nuts 
And pumpkin pies so yellow. 
For grandma knows just how to suit 
Each hungry little fellow. — Selected. 

135 



Song. 



Thanksgiving Hymn. 

1 Can a little child like me 
Thank the Father fittingly? 
Yes, O yes; be good and true, 
Patient, kind, in all you do; 
Love the Lord and do your part, 
Learn to say with all your heart : 

Father, we thank Thee! 
Father, we thank Thee! 
Father in Heaven, we thank Thee! 

2 For the fruit upon the tree, 
For the birds that sing of Thee, 
For the earth in beauty dressed, 
Father, mother and the rest; 
For Thy precious loving care, 
For Thy bounty everywhere. 

Father, we thank Thee, 
Father, we thank Thee, 
Father in Heaven, we thank Thee! 

— Mary Mapes Dodge. 
Psalm 95. From the 1st through half of the 7th verse. 
(Use as concert recitation, requiring children to speak 
distinctly.) 

Recitations. For little boys and girls. 

"All things bright and beautiful 
All creatures great and small, 
All things wise and wonderful, 
The Lord God made them all." 

"All good gifts around us 
Are sent from Heaven above. 
Then thank the Lord, 
Yes, thank the Lord, 
For all His love." 

130 



Song. Father, We Thank Thee for. the Night. (See 
Chapter IV. Morning Exercises.) 

Song. 

" 'Give,' said the Httle stream, 
'Give, O give. Give, O give. 
Give,' said the little stream. 
As it wandered down the hill. 
Tm small, I know, but wherever I go — 
Give, O give; give, O give— 
I'm small, I know, but wherever I go 
The fields grow greener still.' 
"Singing, singing all the day, 
'Give, O give; give away.' 
Singing, singing all the day, 
'Give, O give away.' " 
Song. Bringing in the Sheaves. (As this is being sung, 
have children to march to rostrum and deposit gifts for 
poor people — clothes, provisions, etc.) 

Song. Doxology. 



CHRISTMAS. 

Matthew, 2nd Chapter, first ten verses. (Use as a concert 
recitation, or give to each child a verse.) 
Song. Joy to the World. 
Composition. Christmas. 
Recitation. 

If I were only Santa Claus 

And Santa Claus was me, 

I'd show him just what a good 

Old Santa Claus I'd be. 

137 



I'd always bring the finest toys 
And story books to him 
I'd find his big old stocking 
And fill it to the brim. 

I'd put in lots of candy 
All the candy it would hold; 
And then I'd fill up all the cracks 
With heaps and heaps of gold. 

And when they saw how good I w^as 

How happy folks would be, 

If I were only Santa Claus 

And Santa Claus was me? — Selected. 

Reading from "The Bird's Christmas Carol," by Kate 
Douglas Wiggin. 

Song. Christmas Bells. Tune, Ring the Bells of Heaven. 

Ring, O bells in gladness, 
Tell of joy today; 
Ring and swing o'er all the world so wide. 
Banish thoughts of sadness, 
Drive all care away. 
For it is the Merry Christmas-tide. 

CHORUS. 

Ring, O bells, from spire and swelling dome, 
Ring and bid the peaceful ages come; 

Banish thoughts of sadness. 
Drive all grief away. 
For it is the Merry Christmas Day. 

2 Ring. O bells, the story 

From the ages far; 
Of the Christmas joy and song and light; 

1:^8 



How the wondrous glory 
Of the Christmas star 
Led the shepherds onward through the night. 
— Alice Jean CI eat or. 
Recitation. Christmas. 

Do you wish you could keep your watch by night 

Like the shepherds of Bethlehem? 
Do you wish you could see a glory light 
As it shone in the sky for them? 

Have you kept your watch in the fields afar, 
Where the heathen in darkness dwell? 

Have you watched in the east for the rising star 
That shall lead to Immanuel? 

Have you seen how the Gospel of God's good will 
Is spreading through heathen climes? 

Have you heard how they call on the Lord, until 
It is sweet as the angel chimes? 

I tell you the Christmas glory now 

Is a thousand times more bright 
Than the glory that shone so long ago 

On the first glad Christmas night. 

The earth shall be full of the knowledge of God! 

It is blessedly drawing near! 
And peace on earth, good will to men, 
Shall come with the Lord's New Year. 

— Lucy Wheeler. 
Recitation. Keeping Jesus' Birthday. (For three little 
girls.) 

* 1 How shall little hearts keep Christmas 

When the earth is wrapped in snow? 
Little hearts must all be loving, 
For in loving, love will grow. 

139 



2 How shall little hands keep Christmas 

When the winds of winter blow? 
Little hands make gifts for giving, 
In this way our love to show. 

3 How shall little lips keep Christmas 

When the winter stars shine clear? 
Little lips may sing glad praises 
To the gentle Christ-child dear. 

All So may hearts and hands and voices 
All together Christmas keep; 
Once a child and now our Shepherd, 
Jesus, guard thy lambs and sheep. 

— Margaret Coote Brown. 

Song. Happy Christmas Time. (Tune, 'Tenderly, Soft 
and Sweet," found in Young People's Hymnal, pubHshed 
by Methodist Publishing House, Nashville.) 

1 Happy Christmas time! 

Merry Christmas time! 
In our school room pleasant 
Boys and girls all present, 
Gladly our songs we sing. 
Gladly our voices ring, 
Welcome now to all we give you. 

CHORUS. 

List to our carols 
Joyfully we sing, 
List to our carols 
Hear our voices ring. 
Welcome to our school room 
We welcome you today, 
W^elcome to one and all 

140 



2 Happy Christmas time! 
Merry Christmas time! 
"Peace on earth," the angels 
Told the shepherds in the fields, 
"Good will to men;" 

We tell it to you again, 

And "Glory unto God in the highest." 

CHORUS. 

3 Repeat first verse and chorus. — B. D. M. 
Recitation. Christmas Everywhere. 

Everywhere, everywhere, Christmas tonight! 
Christmas in lands of the fir tree and pine, 
Christmas in lands of the palm tree and vine, 
Christmas where snow peaks stand solemn and white 
Christmas where cornfields lie sunny and bright. 

Christmas where children are hopeful and gay, 
Christmas where old men are patient and gray, 
Christmas where peace like a dove in his flight 
Broods o'er brave men in the thick of the fight; 
Everywhere, Everywhere, Christmas tonight! 

For the Christ-child who comes is the Master of all; 
No palace too great and no cottage too small. 

— Phillips Brooks. 
Christmas Quotations. 

God bless us every one. — Dickens. 

I heard the bells on Christmas day 
Their old familiar carols play. 

And wild and sweet 

The words repeat: 

Of "Peace on earth, good will to men." 

— Longfelloiv. 

141 



For they who think of others most, 
Are the happiest folks that Hve. 

— Phoebe Cary. 

The best of Christmas joy, 

Dear Httle girl or boy, 

That comes on that merry-making day. 

Is the happiness of giving 

To another child, that's living, 

Where Santa Clause has never found the way. 

— Youth's Companion. 

Dialogue. Gifts for the Pets. 

First Child. 

Oh! Fve such fun with that kitten of mine, 

She's the cutest that ever you saw; 
She'll sit in a corner as still as a mouse 

And reach out her dear little paw 
To catch at my dress, when Fm going by; 

Now what shall I get — what would you? 
To give her for Christmas — som.e ribbon I guess, 

She's white — she'll look lovely in blue. 

Second Child. 

I tell you my dog is worth all your cats; 

I wouldn't sell him for a dollar. 
I am going to get him for Christmas, I think, 

A nice, new silver collar. 
When he's hungry he alwa^^s jumps up in a chair 

He can put out his paw to shake hands; 
And there isn't a word in any big book 

But what my dog understands. 

Third Child. 

You all ought to see my sweet little bird, 
And hear it some day when it sings; 



It fluffs up the feathers so high on its neck 
And spreads out its dear Httle wings, 

And dances and flutters around in its cage ; 
I'm sure I don't know what to make 

Or buy, that would be nice enough ; so I guess 
I will give him some candy and cake. 

Fourth Child. 

I wish I could show you the dear little sock 

I'm knitting to hang on the wall. 
For our little baby, when Santa Claus comes, 

Oh! she is the sweetest of all. 
I'm afraid that old Santa don't know she's here 

I must write him a letter today. 
And tell him to put in her little pink sock. 

The best that he has in his sleigh. — Selected. 

Recitation. 

"In memory of that wonderful birth 

We keep our beautiful Christmas time ; 
Filled with plenty and joy and mirth, 

Gay with singing and bell's sweet chime; 
Glad with giving in happy glee, 

Glad with receiving gifts of love 
Glad with the thought that for you and me 
Came that ^ift of a Savior from above." 



From Christmas papers, Sunday School quarterlies and 
magazines you may glean many helpful ideas about a 
Christmas program. 

Claude J. Bell, Nashville, Tenn., have a charming booklet 
called "Christmas Entertainment" for 25 cents.. 

From David C. Cook, Elgin, 111., you can buy for reason- 
able prices a variety of materials for Christmas decora- 
tion. 

143 



WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY. 
Have pictures of Washington on the wall. 
Song. America. 

1 My country, 'tis of thee, 
Sweet land of liberty, 

Of thee I sing; 
Land where my fathers died! 
Land of the pilgrim's pride! 
From every mountain side 

Let freedom ring. 

2 My native country, thee, 
Land of the noble free, 

Thy name I love; 
I love thy rocks and rills, 
Thy woods and templed hills; 
My heart with rapture thrills 

Like that above. 

3 Our father's God, to Thee, 
Author of liberty. 

To Thee we sing; 
Long may our land be bright 
With freedom's holy light; 
Protect us by thy might 

Great God, our King. 

Our Flag. (For several little tots, one carrying a flag.) 

I love the name of Washington, 

I love my country, too. 
I love the flag, the dear old fla; 

Of red, white and blue. 

144 



Red says, "Be brave." 
White says, "Be pure." 
Blue says, "Be true." 

— From the Finch Primer. 

Composition. Story of the first flag. 

Flag Song. 

Recitation. (For a Httle girl.) 

1 I cannot be a Washington, 

However hard I try; 
But into something I must grow 
As fast the days go by. 

2 The world needs women good and true 

I'm glad I can be one. 
For that is even better than 
To be a Washington. 

3 To be as great as Washington 

W^e could not if we would; 
And so we have made up our minds 
To try to be as good. 

Quotation. 

"Lives of great men all remind us 
We can make our lives sublime; 
And, departing, leave behind us 
Footprints on the sands of time." 

— Longjelloiv. 



Composition. 


What are heroes? 


Flag Drill 


_.. r 




145 



Concert Recitation. (For several ehildren.) 

1 "Pale is the February sky, 

And brief the mid-day's sunny hours; 
The wind swept forest seems to sigh 

For the sweet time of leaves and flowers. 

2 "Yet has no month a prouder day 

. Not even when summer broods 
O'er meadows in their fresh array, 
Or autumn tints the glowing woods. 

3 "For this chill season now again 

Brings, in its annual round, the morn 
When, greatest of the sons of men, 
Our glorious Washington was born." 

Song. Star Spangled Banner. 

Facts. (For the smallest children.) 

1. Washington was born at Wakefield. 

2. Washington loved his mother. 

3. He was neat and careful in his work. 

4. He was our first President. 

5. He died at Mt. Vernon. 

Maxims of Washington. ^ 

1. Think before you speak. 

2. Undertake not what you cannot perform, but be 
careful to keep your promise. 

3. Let your recreation be manful, not sinful. 

Gladstone said of Washington: "The purest figure in 
history." 

Richard Henry hee said: "First in war, first in peace, and 
first in the hearts of his countrymen." 

146 



LONGFELLOW'S BIRTHDAY 

February 27. 

Welcome Address. 

Facts. (See Chapter VIH. February.) 

Recitation. The Wreck of the Hesperus. 

Composition. Longfellow's Early Life. (Cyr's Second 
Reader.) 

Longjellow's first poem. Mr. Finney's Turnip. 

1 Mr. Finney had a turnip 
And it grew, and it grew; 
And it grew behind the barn 
And the turnip did no harm. 

2 And it grew, and it grew, 
Till it could grow no taller; 
Then Mr. Finney took it up 
And he put it in the cellar. 

3 There it lay, there it lay. 
Till it began to rot. 

Then his daughter Susie took it 
And she put it in the pot. 

4 She boiled it, and she boiled it 
As long as she was able ; 

Then his daughter Lizzie took it 
And put it on the table. 

5 ' Mr. Finney and his wife 

Both sat down to sup. 
And they ate, and they ate, 
Till they ate the turnip up. 

147 



Concert Recitation. The Village Blacksmith. 

Quotations from Longfellow. 

Song. Building. (Published by the American Book 
Company, Chicago.) 

Concert Recitation. (By the school.) 

1 "With a glory of winter sunshine 

Over his locks of gray, 
In the old historic mansion 
He sat on his last birthday. 

2 "With his books and his pleasant pictures 

And his household and his kin, 
While a sound as of myriads singing 
From far and near stole in. 

3 "And his heart grew warm within him, 

And his moistening eyes grew dim, 
For he knew that his country's children 
Were singing songs of him." 



MOTHER'S DAY. 

April 20. 

Recitation. (For a boy.) 

"A fellow's mother," said Harry the wise, 
With his rosy cheeks and merry eyes, 
"Knows what to do, if a fellow gets hurt 
By a thump, or a bruise, or a fall in the dirt. 

"A fellow's mother has bags and strings 
Rags and boxes and lots of things; 
No matter how busy she is, she'll stop 
To see how well you can spin your top." 

148 



3 "She doesn't care, not much I mean, 
If a fellow's face isn't always clean; 
And if your trousers are torn at the knee, 
She can put in a patch that you'd never see." 

4 "A fellow's mother is never mad. 
But only sorry if you are bad; 

And I tell you this, if you're only true 

She'll always forgive you, whatever you do." 

— Selected. 

Verse. (For six little children, each holding a letter of 
the word "Mother.") 

"Who is queen of baby land? 
Mother, kind and sweet; 
And her love", born above, 
Guides the little feet." 

Song. Old-Fashioned Photograph. (By larger pupils.) 

Recitation. (For a little girl wearing dust-cap, specta- 
cles, etc.) 

"I am a little housemaid. 
This sweeping cap I wear 
Because I must, for fear the dust 
Will settle in my hair. 

"I've put on grandma's glasses; 
Those and her kerchief, too, 
Are to make me look like our old cook; 
I wonder if I do. 

"This bunch of keys is mother's. 
They. jingle as I walk; 
But I must go, for maids, you know, 
Must not stop long to talk. — Selected. 

149 



Recitation. Our Homestead. Phoebe Gary. 

Song. Down on the Farm. 

Composition. Mothers. 

Concert Recitation. 

"Hundreds of stars in the pretty sky, 
Hundreds of shells on the shore together, 
Hundreds of birds that go singing by, 
Hundreds of bees in the sunny weather; 
Hundreds of dewdrops to greet the dawn. 
Hundreds of lambs in the purple clover, 
Hundreds of butterflies on the lawn, 
But only one mother the wide world over." 

Song. Stick to Your Mother, Tom. 

Recitation. Little Hans. 

1 Little Hans was helping mother 
Carry home the lady's basket; 
Chubby hands, of course, were lifting 
One great handle — can you ask it? 
As he tugged away beside her. 
FeeHng, oh! so brave and strong, 
Little Hans was softly singing 

To himself a little song. 

2 "Sometime I'll be as tall as father, 
Though I think it's very funny; 
And I'll work and build big houses, 
And give mother all the money; 
For," and little Hans stopped singing. 
Feeling, oh! so strong and grand, 

"I have got the sweetest mother 

You can find in all the land." — Selected 

150 



CHAPTER XII. 

BUSY WORK AND PICTURES. 

BUSY WORK. 

Arrange your schedule so that the seat work may be a 
continuation of the lessons each day. If, in a First* 
Reader class, "cherry" is the new sight word, let the 
children write, "I see a cherry," or "cherries are red," for 
busy work. Again, they may draw cherries and color 
them. 

If, in an Arithmetic class, the drill is on the number 
12, let the busy w^ork following the lesson be original 
examples showing its various combinations as 3X4=12, 
2X6=12, 7+5=^12, 6+6=:12, etc. Again examples may 
be placed on the board for children to copy and to work 
at their seats. 

During the half hour that precedes a Geography lesson, 
have the children to copy neatly into their tablets the 
names of the cities, rivers, or mountains, mentioned in the 
lesson; or ask each child to write five questions with the 
answers and bring them to the class. Should they grow 
tired of this, let them draw maps for a few weeks, or make 
tables dividing the lesson into topics. 

If there is a vacant period before a recitation in spelling, 
have the children to copy the lesson in tablets or spelHng 
blanks; if the busy time follows the recitation have them 
to write the mis-spelled words, or the lesson for the follow- 
ing day. Again, you may require the pupils to study the 

151 



spelling lesson, at this hour, a certain number of times, as 
ten or sixteen. 

Make seat work profitable and purposeful. Have 
attractive materials. Keep them in neatly labeled boxes 
in a convenient place. Teach children to help keep them 
clean and nice and not to tear, soil, and mark them. 

Seek always to keep the children interested. This 
requires forethou,L;ht and preparation on the part of the 
teacher. That which will be intensely interesting to little 
people at one time will seem dull and stupid at another. 
If materials for busy work are put away for awhile, when 
taken out again they will be enjoyed by the children as 
much as ever. Among various devices the following may 
be used: 

First Grade. 

Write copies. 
Cut squares. 
Cut leaves. 
Cut triangles. 
Write words from speller. 
Write words from reader. 
Work simple examples. 
Fold or cut paper. 
Copy sentences from chart. 
Copy sentences from reader. 
Draw from first reader or from models. 
Trace around hands on slate or paper. 
Trace around leaves on slate or paper. 
Trace around circles, squares, pentagons and hexagons 
(made of pasteboard). 

Arrange toothpicks in groups of three, four, five, etc. 
Arrange shoe pegs in the same way. 

152 



Arrange shoe pegs on desks to represent chairs, tables, 
houses, etc. 

Copy examples from blackboard. 

Copy from board one. two, three, etc. 
1 2 :^ 

Copy a b c's from blackboard. 

Copy figures from blackboard. 

Copy addition tables. 

Copy subtraction tables. 

Arrange a b c's of cardboard. 

Arrange cardboard figures in order as l-2-o. 

Arrange letters (made on cardboard) to form words in 
lesson. 

Arrange words (prepared by teacher on bits of card- 
board) into sentences. 

Color the leaves they trace. 

Color the objects they draw. 

Arrange grains of corn to form chairs, tables and other 
objects. 

Make figures and Roman numerals with shoe pegs. 

Second Grade. 

Write in copy books. 

Work in number tablets. 

Use any of the first grade devices. 
Write: 

Names of colors. Names of furniture. 

Names of flowers. Names of kitchen utensils. 

Names of girls. Things that are hard. 

Names of boys. Things that are soft. 

Names of trees. Things that are black. 

Names of animals. Things that are white. 

Names of fruits. Things that are yellow. 

Names of birds. Things that are green. 

153 



Names of games. Things in the schoolroom 

Things seen through the window. 

Things seen on the way to school. 

Words that rhyme with "hand." 

Words that rhyme with "fill." 

Words that rhyme with "book." 

Words beginning with "a." 

Words beginning with "b." 

Words beginning with "c." 

Names of things seen in a picture. 

Copy poems from second reader. 

Cut vases, tumblers, etc. 

Cut objects studied about. 

Cut stars and hearts. 

Illustrate lessons with pencil. 

Illustrate lessons with scissors. 

Cut and mount bits of leather. 

Press and mount leaves. 

Press and mount flowers. 

Copy poems from other books. 

Copy multiplication tables. 

Write lessons in arithmetic. 

Write original examples. 

Write a letter to mother. 

Write a letter to father. 

Write a letter to the teacher. 

Draw from models and reader 

Illustrate reading lesson. 

Model things with clay. 

Work at sand table. 

Write what each child in room is doing. 

Third Grade. 

Continue the use of second grade devices. 

154 



Draw and color maps and pictures. 

Fold boxes, squares, birds, etc. 

Make rulers of stiff paper. 

Draw and color maps and cut them out with scissors. 

Copy compositions neatly on paper, drawing the subject 
at the top of the page. 

Write letters and copy carefully after they have been 
corrected. 

Write questions or names of places mentioned in Geog- 
raphy lessons. Cut them into slips of paper, ready for 
use on review days. 

Make a list of trades and occupations. 

Make a list of merchants of the town. 

Make a list of things used on a farm. 

Write seven questions about trees and give answers. 

Use the Busy Work Cards published by Claude J. Bell, 
Nashville, Tenn. 

Fourth and Fifth Grades. 

Have a regular time for supplementary reading. 

Write a list of things sold in groceries. 

Select a word, as "continent" and see how many words 
can be made from it. 

Write names of different kinds of dry goods. 

Write seven facts about insects. 

Write seven facts about birds. 

Write seven facts about fish. 

Write the abbreviations of twelve States. 

Write the nicknames of eight cities. 

Find out how these are made : 

Gunpowder Resin 

Bricks Tar 

Glass Cheese 

Dynamite Candles 

155 



Starch 

Tapioca 

Camphor 



Carpets 
Leather 
Soap 



To what kingdom do these belong" 



Linen 
Silk 
Cotton 
Wool 



Chalk 
Water 
Tables 
Chairs 



Soda 
Coal 
Amber 
Ivory 



Draw a circle upon the board, and ask the pupils to see 
how many things they can make using a circle as a founda- 
tion. Show them how it can be turned into a ball, an 
apple, a cherry, a bird, a gourd, a fan, a mouse with his 
back turned, a face, etc. 



(55 o 




In the same manner show how an oval may be converted 
into a vase, a pitcher, or a bird. 

Cut cups, tumblers, goblets, vases, lamps, and other 
objects out of paper. 

Write a list of nouns. 
Write a list of adjectives. 
Draw and color with water colors 
Use Busy Work Cards 



15^ 



Helps. Paint-boxes, with very good colors, may be 
bought for 25 cents from Milton Bradley Company, Atlanta, 
Ga., or Hoover Bros., Kansas City, Mo. 

Colored pencils are four cents a box at racket stores. 

Shoe pegs may be bought from any shoe maker. Ten 
cents worth will be sufficient for many children. 

Kindergarten straws may be bought from Milton Bradley 
Company, Atlanta, Ga. 

Outline maps may be bought from D. C. Heath & Co., 
Atlanta, Ga. These may be colored by the pupils to show 
the products. On one map show by colors where the gold 
fields are, on another show farming districts, and on another 
the manufacturing centers. 

Anagrams may be made with old visiting cards or 
thick paper. 

Blank sheets of drawing paper may be bought for 20 
cents per package. 

Number tablets may be bought from the American 
Book Company. 

Woolwine tablets, with double-ruled lines, are for sale 
at most book stores. 

"Busy Work Devices" is a small pamphlet by Abbie 
Hall, published by A. J. Fouch & Co., Warren, Pa. Price 
10 cents. 

Cut-up chromo cards to be placed together by children, 
published by the same firm. Price 10 cents a set. 

Busy Work Cards, suitable for second, third and fourth 
grades, published by Claude J. Bell, Nashville, Tenn. 

Raised enamel letters from placards and advertisements; 
figures on calendars pasted on stiff paper and cut up ; words 
from old first readers — all may be utilized. 

"How to manage Busy Work," is published by A. S. 
Barnes & Co., New York. 

157 



PICTURES. 

Kinds. Collect pictures of different kinds, from old 
magazines, school journals, newspapers, etc. 

Uses. They may be used for language lessons, geography 
lessons, morning exercises, drawing models, wall decora- 
tion. 

Let children make collections of pictures. One may 
gather together those of birds and paste them on a large 
oblong piece of cardboard, to be hung on the wall. Another 
may collect pictures of flowers; another, famous people; 
another, our warships; and still another, famous build- 
ings. 

Show stereoptican views of famous pictures. 

They may be used for geography scrap-books, history 
scrap-books, or Tennessee scrap-books. 

The teacher may give, for morning exercises, a talk 
about some famous picture as the "Sistine Madonna," 
"The Last Supper," "The Transfiguration," "The Angelus." 
Pupils may give five minute talks on "Washington," 
"Longfellow," or "Benjamin Franklin," and show the 
picture. 

Pictures of home life and of children showing kindness 
to animals are suitable for the walls. 

Avoid using pictures of war and bloodshed, or of cruelty 
and anger. Use for the walls those which are uplifting, and 
will exert a good influence on the mind. Unconsciously 
we are influenced by our surroundings. 

From an article in an old copy of the Normal Instructor 
the following is quoted : 

"The walls of the Swiss and Prussian schoolhouses are 
made to teach by pictures. These are not war scenes, or 
pictures associated in any way with the killing of men or 

158 



animals. They represent the kindly acts of the common 
people. * =■= '^ In Germany every child passes through 
fairyland. The education of the imagination is a part of 
the soul training. '^ *- '' In selecting pictures and 
objects for the mural decorations of the school room, 
scenes which represent the work of those who seek their 
happiness in the gratitude of others, are the most effective 
and have the greatest governing power. They leave 
an unconscious sense-impression on the plastic mind and 
susceptible heart of the child, whose influence will follow 
the suggestion for life. Such pictures may represent the 
work of philanthropists; or pastoral scenes of kindly life 
among the flocks; or gentle sympathies of simple peasant 
people. ''= '^ '= Pictures of birds and flowers have an 
uplifting influence, but not so great as those which repre- 
sent the noble qualities of the heart. - - - Pictures 
of men and women whose work stands for character are 
inspirational."— i/^s^^^'a^ Buiterworth. 

Large pictures of Washington, Lincoln, Longfellow, 
Bryant, Whittier, Froebel, may be purchased at reasonable 

prices. 

"The decorations on the walls of a man's house are his 
soul. The decorations on the walls of the school-room 
often represent the teacher's soul." 

Pictures may be given as rewards for punctuality, deport- 
ment and scholarship. 

Mount on stiff paper those which are to be used in the 
geography class and put them in a box. Label another 
box, "Pictures for Language Lessons," and another, 
"Drawing Models." 

Helps. Catalog from G. P. Brown & Co., Beverly, 
Mass. Catalog from Perry Picture Co., Maiden, Mass. 

159 



Ahtises. Never allow the children to tear, disfigure, or 
soil the pictures. When one is spoiled from constant use 
lay it aside. Give them for models, and for busy work 
only those which are neat and clean. 

Never show a great many pictures at one time. Select 
a few for your lesson or lessons; or give to each child one 
to draw from, or write from, and do not show your whole 
collection at once. Keep some so that they will be new 
to the pupils, and thus the interest will be kept up. If 
you show too many at once it confuses the minds of the 
children. 




160 



School " Room Mottoes 

Great thoughts beautifully presented to young people, aid greatly in develop- 
ing their mental and moral character and are a source of constant inspiration to 
them. To aid teachers in this great work we have selected twenty genuine gems 
and have them printed on fine white Bristol Board with beautiful red and blue ink' 
which gives a pretty effect of the national colors. They can be easily read across 
any schoolroom and children will never tire of them. They are about 8x16 inches 
in size, punched and furnished with colored cords just ready for hanging. You 
furnish only the nails or tacks and the work is done. 

The entire set of twenty will be sent postpaid for only fifty cents. Either half 
set for only thirty cents. The mottoes will pay for themselves hundreds of times 
each year. See list below: 

Half Set No. 1. Half Set No. 3. 

"Find a Way, or Make a Way." 
•Try, Try Again." "Do You Know It, Or Only Think You 

"Well Begun is Half Done." Do ?" 

"Am I Doing Right ?" "How Does Yesterday's Work Appear 

"A Frown is a Cloud, a Smile is Sunshine" To-Day ?" 
"If I Deceive. Whom Do I Cheat r "How Will To-Day's W^ork Appear 



'God Sees Me. 



Tomorrow ?" 



^, . , „ "One Thing at a Time, and That Well 

"Think. Oone." 

"Do All the Good You Can and Don't ..jf i Deceive My Teacher, Who is 

Make a Fuss About It." Cheated ?" 

"Will It Pay ?" "Think Deep, Not Loud." 

"Paddle Your Own Canoe." "Do Right.' 

"There is a Right Way. There Are Many 

Wrong Ways." 
"Think the Truth, Speak the Truth, Act 
the Truth." 

CLAUDE J. BELL, - Nashville, Tenn, 



Silent Oocsupation 

SENTENCE BUILDING 

Prepared by Mrs. Claude J. Bell. Twelve complete 
sentences of six simple ivords each, printed on smooth heavy 
paper. 5x9 inches. Single words to be cut apart by the teacher 
and used by Primer snd First Grade Children for Sent Work. 
Note of instruction on each Chart. A very useful and pleasing: 
form of busy w^ork. 10 charts for 10c. 30 cliarts for 25c. 

CLAUDE J BELL. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



llllll 

019 840 144 4 



